


I Am A Warrior

by CellophaneSoldier



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, POV Alternating, Romance, SocialWorker!Derek, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-12 15:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 43,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1190208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CellophaneSoldier/pseuds/CellophaneSoldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isaac's past haunts him, he wakes up petrified that he's in a freezer and jumps at any sudden movement. Derek tells him it's natural, he tells him that Isaac shouldn't be ashamed and he's brave but Isaac doesn't believe it. He just wants a new beginning.</p><p>Stiles comes home from a summer college program to find someone new in his life. Someone named Isaac Lahey. He's Scott's new friend and his dad's new case but he has no idea why. It's not that Stiles dislikes Isaac but if someone would just fill him in that would be awesome!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hypocorismm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hypocorismm/gifts).



> 3...2...1...BLAST OFF! First Teen Wolf story posted!
> 
> Title from Warrior by: Demi Lovato

 

Stiles let out a sigh as he exited the plane into the Sacramento airport terminal. It had been a long plane ride from Illinois to California and he was ready to be home, but a 3-hour car ride lay between him and Beacon Hills. His phone buzzed as he began the long walk to baggage claim. He almost dropped the phone as he was extricating it from his back pocket but managed to catch his phone before it fell and grasped it more securely in his hand.

 He opened the text that read:  ** _“I’m waiting for you at baggage claim. See you soon. –Dad”_**

A grin spread across Stiles’ face and he began to walk faster. Stiles was beyond excited to see his dad after 2 months. Although his summer at University of Illinois was an amazing opportunity and something he thoroughly enjoyed, Stiles was ready to get home and see all of his friends. Stiles stepped onto the escalator heading towards the baggage claim area, searching the crowd for his dad as he descended. Once stepping off the escalator he hurried to the carousel for his flight, searching the crowd as he walked.

“Stiles!” Stiles turned sharply in the direction of the voice to see his dad heading towards him with Stiles’ checked back in his hand.

“Dad!” Stiles exclaimed. His dad reached him and immediately pulled Stiles into a hug.

“It’s great to see you Stiles,” his dad said, stepping out of the hug and holding Stiles arms-length away. “You grew out your hair!”

Stiles ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, I didn’t have a lot of time to get a haircut. You look good too dad! I hope you haven’t been eating burgers all summer”

“Melissa took pity on me and brought something over every so often. Or she had Scott bring it,” the Sheriff reassured him, picking Stiles’ big duffel bag up. They walked out the door and toward the car

“I’m glad the McCalls are watching out for you,” Stiles commented.

“I feel like you put them up to it,” the Sheriff accused, giving Stiles a critical look as he tossed Stiles’ bag into the trunk of the car.

“I did no such thing. The McCalls are just incredibly thoughtful people.”

The Sheriff just “hmm”-ed in return, and climbed into the car, “So tell me about your summer.”

“It was good. I already told you about all of it over the phone as it happened,” Stiles said. “Did you have any exciting cases while I was gone?”

“Even if I did you know I can’t talk about it,” the Sheriff warned.

“But you always do,” Stiles remarked

 “Well, we had one involving an abusive father. We managed to get his kid out of the house and he’s living in a foster home and his father is in jail, waiting to be put on trial.”

“Is it someone I know?” Stiles asked cautiously.

“Stiles, don’t push it. That is something I definitely can’t tell you.”

Much of the car ride went on like this. Stiles told his father more about the computer science program he had been involved in and the friends he made. The Sheriff told Stiles about what had been going on in Beacon Hills. Deaton had expanded the veterinary clinic to add on a small shelter in the back for the stray dogs and cats they treated. He also told Stiles about the people who had recently moved into town, including a woman named Jennifer Blake who had come to fill the vacancy as English teacher at Beacon Hills High School.

It was past 5 in the evening when they arrived home. Stiles placed his bag in his room and dumped all of his dirty clothes into the hamper.

“Stiles, I’m going to go grab some dinner!” His dad called from downstairs.

“Okay!” Stiles called back. He heard the front door open and close again and the sound of his dad’s cruiser backing out of the driveway.

Stiles fell back onto his bed and let out a huge sigh. A muffled buzzing beside Stiles broke the silence; he picked up his phone from where he dropped it on the bed beside him and pressed the talk button. “Hello?’

“STILES!” yelled a familiar voice through the receiver. Stiles held the phone away from his ear, cringing.

“Jesus Scott, volume!”

“I missed you! Are you home?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, I got home 5 minutes ago,” Stiles answered.

“You did! Do you want to go to a party tonight? Allison and Lydia are going to be there,” Scott offered.

“Maybe, my dad went to grab some dinner for us. But I may show up after. What’s the address?” Stiles answered.

“I’ll text it to you. I can’t wait to see you, bro! I’ve got to go drop off some supper for my mom; it’s another late night for her. I’ll see you later.”

“Tell your mom I say hi,” Stiles said.

“I will, bye!” Scott hung up after that. Stiles tossed his phone back on his bed then went in search of a clean pair of jeans to wear tonight.

Stiles’ dad soon arrived back home with two grease stained bags, carrying the smell of fast food into the house, which had Stiles’ mouth watering. “Thanks for picking this up,” Stiles said, digging into one of the bags and pulling out a large container of curly fries. “Seriously, thanks,” he repeated, before stuffing a handful of curly fries into his mouth.

“You’re welcome,” the Sheriff replied. “Don’t choke on your food please.”

Stiles replied with a huge gulp and followed it with, “I’m going to meet up with friends tonight, if that’s okay.”

“Fine by me,” the Sheriff answered.

“Great!” Stiles replied, and he began to devour his dinner.

 

“Bye dad! I’ll probably be staying at Scott’s tonight,” Stiles said as he grabbed the keys to his Jeep off of the living room coffee table.

“Okay, don’t be out too late,” the Sheriff responded. He was lounging in his recliner watching TV. He muted it quickly and turned to Stiles saying, “don’t drink and drive, and don’t get roofied, and don’t roofy someone else, and if you go anywhere else text me, and-“

“Thanks Dad, I think I get the point,” Stiles interrupted him.

“I’m your father, Stiles and the Sheriff of this town. I have to give you this advice,” he reminded Stiles.

“I appreciate it. I promise to uphold the family honor,” Stiles said, giving his dad a grin then he bounded out the door.

As he was walking out the door, Stiles brought up the text Scott had sent him with the address of the party’s location. 

Stiles climbed into the Jeep and put the key into the ignition. “Oh how I have missed that sound,” Stiles said as the car rumbled to life. “Out of everything that I have missed you have definitely been one of the things I have missed most.”

Stiles could tell which was the party house from two blocks down. It was the only one with lights on and Stiles could practically feel the thump of the bass on the sidewalk as he approached it. He parked a block away, and walked the rest of the way to the house. The house seemed to be at full capacity once he entered and he had to shoulder past a pair of girls who thought the doorway would be the perfect place to take a selfie. They squealed as he barged through them, but he disregarded it.

Stiles searched the house for Scott and soon found him in the kitchen pouring two drinks; one for him, and one for Allison, Stiles assumed. Stiles followed Scott through the kitchen and back into the living room where people were all milling around. Judging from the almost physical bounce in the floor, the basement was where the dancing (read: dry humping) was going on.

Scott stopped at a couch where Allison and a boy who Stiles didn’t know sat. Scott seemed to be on pretty friendly terms with him. He handed one drink, which Stiles thought was for Allison to the boy and kept the other one for himself.

Allison noticed Stiles before Scott did and a gigantic grin spread across her face. “STILES!” she screamed over the thumping of the music and chatter of the crowd.

“ALLISON!” Stiles hollered back.

She lunged at him and wrapped him in a big hug, her long curly hair practically whipping him in the face. “It’s great to see you!” she said, beaming. “We’ve missed you so much, you have to tell us everything about your trip!”

“When did you show up!?” Scott asked.

“I just got here,” Stiles replied.

“You should’ve told me when you were leaving!” Scott exclaimed.

“Yeah, yeah. Now where’s my hug, damn it!” Stiles demanded.

Scott pulled him into a hug, patting his back and saying, “welcome home, Stiles.”

“Thanks,” Stiles replied.

The whole time, Stiles noticed the boy Allison had been sitting next to had been staring at the three of them, his expression unreadable.

Scott turned back to the couch and noticed his friend again. “Oh, right. Introductions!” He announced. “Stiles, this is Isaac. Isaac, this is my best friend, Stiles.”

“Nice to meet you,” Stiles said, holding out his hand.

Isaac didn’t say anything; he just gave Stiles a tight smile and took his hand, letting go before Stiles had even got a grip on Isaac’s hand.

“He’s going to Beacon Hills this year. He was home schooled up until now,” Scott explained.

“Oh, that’s cool,” Stiles said, still staring at Isaac. Isaac just looked at the floor.

“Allison and I are going downstairs to see what’s going on. Want to join?” Scott asked.

“I’m going to go outside for a bit.” It was the first thing Isaac had said since Stiles had caught sight of him.

“Okay. You want to come, Stiles?” Scott asked.

“No thanks, you and Allison will just ditch me to go grind on the dance floor. I’m going to go find Lydia or something.”

“I don’t know how likely it is you’re going to find her. I saw her go upstairs with some boy 20 minutes ago,” Allison said.

“Oh, well, I’ll just stick around up here,” Stiles decided.

Isaac had already vanished from the couch and Scott and Allison made their way to the basement, leaving Stiles alone.

He wasn’t quite sure what he thought about this Isaac kid. He seemed a little antisocial and Stiles figured Scott had dragged him along like Scott tended to do. Stiles was curious as to how Scott met him over the summer and a quick, almost unnoticeable pang of jealousy hit Stiles. The fear of Scott replacing him flashed through his mind and Stiles pushed it away almost as soon as it appeared.

Stiles made his way into the kitchen and poured himself a drink, almost spilling it on some guy who looked like he wasn’t even in high school anymore. “Hey, watch it!” the guy said. Stiles just ignored him.

Stiles circulated the room and after catching up with a couple other classmates and failing to locate Scott, Allison, or Lydia, Stiles decided to head outside. There weren’t a lot of people out there; just a couple kissing in a dark corner of a porch and a dark figure sitting on a garden bench. Stiles noticed it was Isaac and approached the bench sitting down next to him.

Isaac’s head whipped around to look at Stiles; he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Hi,” Stiles began, offering a smile.

Isaac relaxed a fraction and replied, “hi.”

“So you were home schooled,” Stiles said, trying to make conversation.

“Yeah, by my dad.”

“What made you want to go to Beacon Hills,” Stiles asked.

“A number of things,” Isaac answered vaguely.

“Oh cool. Well, how’d you meet Scott?”

“Friend of a friend kind of thing,” Isaac responded.

Isaac was awfully vague with his responses and it spurred Stiles’ curiosity even more. But he felt like if he asked Isaac any more questions he would scare Isaac off. Isaac seemed extremely skittish, one false move and he would run off. Stiles decided to change tactics. “So did Scott drag you here?” Stiles asked.

“Sort of. My… guardian wanted me to get out of the house for a bit. To meet more of my classmates before the end of summer.”

Stiles noticed the hesitation before Isaac said guardian and that caused a whole other wave of questions to crash into Stiles’ head but he held them back, and said instead, “well, I guess that makes sense.”

Isaac’s phone went off in his hand and he started. Isaac’s phone was a dinky looking flip phone that Stiles didn’t even know were being manufactured anymore. “I’ve got to go. It was nice meeting you though,” Isaac said as he stood up.

“It was nice meeting you too. Maybe we’ll have some classes together,” Stiles said.

“Yeah, maybe,” Isaac replied. For what seemed to be the first time that night, Isaac smiled. Just a small fleeting one that crossed his face for a moment; but it was there, Stiles was sure of it. Then Isaac turned and walked away from Stiles, walking around the side of the house, towards the front where Stiles assumed he was being picked up.

Scott found Stiles several minutes later and sat down next to him. “Where did Isaac go?” Scott asked.

“He left. I think someone picked him up,” Stiles explained.

“Ugh, I wish he’d told me. I gave him a ride here, I would have given him a ride home,” Scott said.

“I’m sure he’s fine with getting picked up. It seemed like he really wanted to leave,” Stiles told him.

“Yeah… hey, are you staying over tonight?” Scott asked.

“Of course!” Stiles exclaimed.

“Okay awesome! You can tell me everything about your summer,” Scott said, slinging an arm around Stiles. “Let’s go get Allison; I’m ready to blow this popsicle stand.”


	2. Chapter 2

 

Stiles had roughly a week between the time he came home and when school started; and that week flew past. So before Stiles knew it he was being woken up by his alarm clock at an ungodly hour and his dad waking him up by proclaiming loudly “Get up Stiles this is your last first day of school!”

Stiles only replied with a groan and covered up his head with his comforter successfully blocking the sunlight. But this didn’t last long because the sheriff ripped back the covers as he announced that there was French toast and bacon downstairs and if Stiles didn’t get up now he would eat all of it and leave the dishes for Stiles. After weighing the options Stiles grudgingly got out of bed and began to get ready for school.

Stiles was about to leave for school when he received a text message from Scott that said: ** _“Can you give me a ride today? – Scott_**

**_“Sure, I’m leaving now. You better be ready.” – Stiles_ **

**_“Okay, also can we pick Isaac up? I sort of offered him a ride.” – Scott_ **

**_“Sure.” – Stiles_ **

Stiles didn’t bother asking why Scott didn’t ask if it was okay to give Isaac a ride first because at this point Stiles was used to Scott taking the liberty of offering favors for him. Besides, Stiles didn’t have a problem with giving Isaac a ride. The guy seemed nice; it would just be nice if he talked more.

 

On the other side of town Isaac was having a different sort of morning. He had woken up by bustling outside his door in what he presumed was his guardian, Derek. Isaac figured Derek was about to wake him up and decided that he didn’t really want to talk to him more than he had to. So he got up and made a fuss about getting ready so Derek knew he didn’t have to wake Isaac up. Isaac had a new message on his phone from Scott that said his friend Stiles could give Isaac a ride to school and to be ready “asap.” Isaac sighed in relief because he didn’t want Derek to drive him to school in his flashy Camaro. That would guarantee attention being drawn to him.

 “Good morning Isaac,” Derek greeted, as Isaac entered the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Isaac mumbled, trying not to look directly at Derek.

“You ready for your first day of school?” Derek asked him cutting up some bananas to put into a smoothie. Derek was sort of a health nut.

“I’m ready for anything that wasn’t what I had,” Isaac replied, deadpan. He got out a bowl and spoon from the kitchen cabinets and poured himself some cereal.

Derek’s cheery demeanor evaporated at this statement, and he turned to Isaac who was now munching on his cereal. “Isaac, this is a fresh start for you. This is something you’ve told me you’ve been waiting for, so take advantage of this. You don’t have to worry about your dad anymore. Remember: we’ve got your back,” He offered a small and encouraging smile, and Isaac returned it halfheartedly.

“I’ll try to make the most of it.”

“That’s all I ask. Do you want me to drive you to school today?” Derek offered.

“No thanks, a friend of Scott’s is picking me up,” Isaac answered. He ate the last of the cereal then rinsed the dish out in the sink before going to brush his teeth and finish getting ready for school.

Isaac sat on the front steps of the apartment building waiting for Stiles and Scott to show up. He tugged at the neck of his shirt lightly. It felt about 70 degrees outside but Isaac still decided to wear a long sleeved shirt. It was out of habit so no one would look at his arms where bruises and marks had been. ‘You don’t need to worry about that anymore,’ he thought, but old habits die hard.

Isaac watched a blue jeep roll up to him with Scott’s head sticking out the window, grinning at him “Hey Isaac, jump in!”

Isaac opened the car door and climbed into the backseat tossing his bag on the seat next to him.

The school parking lot was jam packed with cars when Stiles, Scott, and Isaac arrived. Stiles managed to find a spot in the very back of the lot and the three of them joined the other students in making their way to the school.

“Scott, can I see your schedule?” Stiles asked.

“Sure,” Scott replied and handed the piece of paper to Stiles.

Stiles scanned the paper and compared it to his schedule but found nothing similar. “We only have lunch together this year.” Stiles informed Scott.

“Check Isaac’s maybe you guys have classes together,” Scott offered, looking at Isaac.

“Sure,” Isaac muttered, handing his schedule to Stiles.

After scanning both papers for a second, Stiles announced: “Hey, look! We got AP English together.”

Isaac looked at Stiles and said “Great,” then after a pause continued: “Now I know I’ll have at least on person I know in one of my classes.”

“Well we have History together too.” Scott added. “I think you’ll have someone you know in at least one of each of your classes the school isn’t that big.”

The three boys entered the building and headed towards their first period classes; which was History for Scott and Isaac, and AP Chemistry for Stiles.

 

English was Stiles’ last period of the day. The class was right by his locker so he could just grab his stuff and go the moment the bell rang for the end of school.

He sauntered into the class and chose a desk two rows from the front and brought out a notebook that he began to doodle on. When Stiles saw Isaac walk in he waved his hand and patted the desk next to him.

“Hey, Isaac,” Stiles greeted.

Isaac replied with a simple “Hey.”

“How was your day?” Stiles asked turning towards Isaac.

“Fine,” There was a slight pause before he continued: “The classes all seem interesting.”

Stiles could tell that Isaac was making an effort to talk. His pauses after one-word answers before continuing tipped Stiles off to the fact that Isaac didn’t talk much. But he was making an effort.

“That’s cool,” Stiles replied.

The bell rang, signaling the start of class and the woman who had been writing on the board turned on her heel to face the class. “All right-y class. My name is Ms. Blake. I’m your new English teacher and why don’t we jump straight into this year.” She announced. “Since I’m new here to Beacon Hills and I don’t know a lot about the place I would like you to take 10 minutes to write about your favorite person, place, or thing here. When the 10 minutes are up I want you to turn to your neighbor and read to them what you wrote. Then at the end of the period you will be turning them in.”

Several ideas popped into Stiles’ head at once but he decided to choose the sheriff’s office where he had spent most of his elementary school afternoons.

Once the 10 minutes were up Stiles immediately turned to Isaac and said “So. Do you want to go first or me?”

“You can.”

“Okay,” Stiles coughed theatrically to clear his throat and began “As a teenager you would think I’d want to avoid the police office as much as possible. But in my case this was the opposite.” Stiles went on to explain the deputies at the station and all of the trouble he got into and how one time one of the deputies, Tara convinced Stiles to play hide and seek in the office. It had caused havoc since the Sheriff thought that someone had kidnapped his only son right under his nose. When he was done he looked at Isaac expectantly. “Your turn.” Stiles said.

“Okay. Mine isn’t that good though, I haven’t been to a lot of places in Beacon Hills.”

“That’s okay.” Stiles encouraged. “Just read a little bit.”

Isaac had written about a park his mom always took him to as a child. He talked about the swings that his mother used to give him underdogs on and how him and his older brother, Camden would race to see who could climb up the slides faster. (Camden always won). When Isaac finished he looked up and shrugged at Stiles in a way that was supposed to say “Told you it wasn’t that good.”

“I really liked that.” Stiles told him. “Are you talking about the park near the elementary school?”

“Yeah, I used to live near there,” Isaac answered.

“I love that park! I still go there sometimes,” Stiles exclaimed.

“Sharing time is up!” Ms. Blake announced. “If any brave souls want to stand up and share what they wrote speak now or forever hold your peace.” The students looked around at each other, but no one stood up. “Okay then. Well how about I read them and whichever ones I think are the best I’ll read them to the class. Anonymously of course I wouldn’t want your classmates to think that some of you actually tried.” There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she said that, and a smirk played on her lips. “Pass your papers up.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait a week to post another chapter. But I couldn't wait that long, I just had to post this now! I'm excited! Can you tell? :)


	3. Chapter 3

The loft was empty when Isaac came home. It was a relief to know that he could be alone for a while. Isaac liked Derek, he really did! Derek gave him space when he needed it, and listened to him when Isaac needed to talk. Derek had opened up his home for Isaac, but sometimes Isaac needed some time to himself. He grabbed a snack from the kitchen cabinets and flopped onto the couch. He took several minutes to review his whole day and decided that all in all it was fine. His classmates were friendly and accepting, which was exactly what Isaac needed (even if he didn’t want to admit it).  
Derek walked through the front door sweaty and breathing heavily, obviously just coming back from a run.  
“Hey Isaac,” he greeted, taking the ear-buds out and letting them hang across his shoulders from where they protruded from the back of his sweat soaked shirt.  
“Hello,” Isaac greeted, habitually pulling his sweater sleeves back down. He hadn’t even noticed that he had pushed them up in the first place.  
“How was school?” Derek asked.  
Isaac had been expecting this question. “It was fine,” he replied.  
“Just fine? Nothing else to comment?” Derek prodded.  
“Everyone seemed pretty accepting. I sat with Scott and some of his friends, and Scott’s best friend Stiles was keen on making my acquaintance.”  
“Well, maybe that’s good.”  
“I don’t mind it,” Isaac replied, shrugging. “It makes it easier to make friends.”  
“Definitely,” Derek concurred. “So what do you want to do for dinner? We can go by the grocery store and pick some ingredients up to cook, or we can go out to eat. Which would you prefer?”  
“I don’t really care,” Isaac replied.  
“I want you to decide,” Derek insisted.  
“Fine, let’s go out to eat then,” Isaac decided.  
“Alright, sounds like a plan. I’ll shower then we can find a place to eat.”

Stiles and Scott whirled into the Stilinski residence like tornadoes, dumping their backpacks by the front door with their shoes haphazardly kicked off near them. Stiles deposited his Jeep keys on the kitchen counter then opened the fridge to root through it while Scott booted up the game console.  
“Scott! What do you want to eat?” Stiles called.  
“Nachos!” Scott replied.  
Stiles grabbed some shredded cheese from the fridge and a bag of tortilla chips in the pantry. He poured the chips onto a plate then covered them in cheese. He placed the plate in the microwave and set it for 30 seconds. When it went off, he grabbed the plate and rushed into the family room, placing the plate on the coffee table and grabbing the a controller Scott offered him.  
“So are we play Super Smash Bros, or Mario Kart?” Stiles asked.  
“Super Smash Bros, duh. I love kicking your ass at the game,” Scott replied.  
“Such bullshit,” Stiles scoffed.  
“Bring it on, loser.”  
This was a tradition of Scott and Stiles’. Every afternoon, the two of them would play video games together. They switched houses or they would just go online and play League of Legends together. But this was something that always happened.  
Sheriff Stilinski arrived home at 5 o’clock. The boys had moved to Mario Kart where Stiles was currently kicking Scott’s ass at the game.  
“Stiles! Stop throwing your banana peels!!” Scott yelled.  
“It’s the point of the game idiot! Stop sucking so bad!” Stiles replied. “Hi Dad!”  
“Hey Stiles, Hi Scott,” the Sheriff replied.  
Stiles crossed the finish line of his last lap and the end screen flashed up on the split screen, showing Stiles as champion.  
“Hi Sheriff,” Scott greeted. “Can we play something else now?” Scott begged Stiles.  
“Fine, you pick.” Stiles asked.  
“Yes!!”  
“Don’t you guys have homework?” the Sheriff asked.  
“Don’t you have paperwork?” Stiles countered.  
“I finished mine at work, and I’m the adult here,” John chided. “Do you two still want to go out to eat tonight?”  
“YES,” Scott and Stiles answered in unison.  
“Is your mom joining us, Scott?”  
“She has to work again tonight. She’s covering for someone,” Scott explained.  
“Looks like it’s just us guys tonight then,” the Sheriff stated.

Derek and Isaac decided on an Italian place in the center of Beacon Hills’ small downtown area. Very few people were there and the lights were dim, which made reading the menus harder to read but it was quiet and cozy, which is what Isaac needed.  
“I think I’m going to get some ravioli,” Derek stated. “What about you?”  
Isaac just shrugged; he wasn’t keen on talking anymore. He had talked to Derek enough already and he had to be social at school so his social-o-meter had reached its peak.  
“You okay, Isaac?” Derek asked.  
“I’m fine!” Isaac snapped. “Why the hell do you have to ask me every little question like we’re in a therapy session? I didn’t sign up for that when I decided to live with you. I don’t want every conversation to feel like I’m back at therapy where you’re asking questions to figure out what’s wrong with me.”  
“Nothing’s wrong with-” Derek began  
“Forget it,” Isaac cut him off  
The two of them sat in an awkward silence for a moment before a voice called “Hey Isaac, Derek!” The pair turned to see Scott, Stiles, and Sheriff Stilinski coming towards them. The Sheriff’s hand was waving at them so Isaac presumed that he was the one who had called their names.  
“Hey John, how’s it going?” Derek asked. “I didn’t think we’d see you here.”  
“It’s sort of tradition. Scott, his mom, Stiles and I go out for dinner on the first day of school.” The Sheriff answered  
Isaac was taken aback at the implication that the Sheriff was Stiles’ dad. He hadn’t made the connection but now that he came to think of it how many people named Stilinski live in Beacon Hills.  
“Do you two want to come join us at a table and we can all eat together?” The Sheriff offered.  
“Sure,” Derek replied immediately.  
The five of them grabbed a booth in the corner and a waiter came to fill water glasses.  
“So how’ve you been, Derek?” The sheriff asked Isaac’s guardian.  
“Oh, I’ve been grand. Works kind of at a lull so I’ve been working at the nursing home.”  
“What do you do?” Stiles asked.  
“I’m a social worker, mainly for teenagers. But since I’m pretty much the only one in town, besides the school social worker, Ms. Morrell I do work all over town,” Derek explained to him.  
“How have you been, Isaac?” the Sheriff asked Isaac.  
“I’ve been fine,” Isaac replied. “It’s been an adjustment with Derek.”  
“Well, it looks like you’re adjusting pretty well,” the Sheriff concluded. “It’s nice to see you a little more relaxed.”  
He turned his attention from Isaac back to Derek where the two of them began a conversation about baseball.  
“I didn’t tell Stiles about what happened this summer,” Scott muttered from Isaac’s left. “I just thought I’d let you know in case you were worried I did since he’s one of my best friends and stuff.”  
“Oh, okay,” Isaac replied. “Thanks I guess. Actually, yeah. Thanks.”

Stiles watched Scott and Isaac talk quietly from across the table. Jealousy brewed in Stiles’ stomach. He could tell something had happened this summer and no one would tell him. Did no one trust him? Why wouldn’t they tell him?  
When dinner was over and Scott had been dropped off, Stiles turned to his dad and asked “How do you know Isaac and Derek?”  
“Well, I know Derek because he works with the department,” John answered.  
“How do you know Isaac?” Stiles asked.  
“It’s a small town Stiles. Everyone knows everyone. Why does it matter?” The Sheriff pulled into their driveway and shut off the car.  
“It doesn’t, I guess. Just curious,” Stiles muttered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it took me this long! You will soon learn that I am a horrible updater! However I have two weeks left in school and once June 1st rolls around I will be free from high school forever!! But enough with my excuses let's get to this chapter! I hope this makes up for my absence!

Stiles honked the horn of the Jeep impatiently. It’s a Friday and he’s waiting for Scott to get his ass into the car so they won’t be late for school.

“I’m coming!” Scott yells as he bounds down his front porch step.

“You’re going to make us late!” Stiles called back.

“We’ve still got 20 minutes!” Scott replied as he climbed into the Jeep and slamsmed the door shut. “We don’t have to pick up Isaac by the way.”

“Well good, because we don’t have a lot of time,” Stiles replied, pulling away from the curb. “Is he getting a ride from Derek?”

“No, he’s got an appointment today.” Scott answered.

“For what?” Stiles asked.

“Nothing,” But Stiles could tell it didn’t sound like nothing.

The rest of the short ride to school was spent in silence, except for the radio playing quietly.

The bell for school to start rang just as Scott and Stiles pulled into the school parking lot. The teens that had been milling around outside, began to make their way into the school.

The pair climbed the steps to school when Scott asked: “Is it okay if Isaac comes to hang out and play video games with us after school today?”

“Does he have to.” Stiles said before he could stop himself.

“Well. No,” Scott answered.

“I thought you said he had some sort of appointment anyway,” Stiles continued.

“Well, he does. But he’ll be back by lunch time,” Scott explained.

“Well it’s your house we’re going to, so it’s your decision,” Stiles said.

“Why do you have a problem with him?” Scott asked.

“I don’t have a problem with him. It would just be nice to know where he came from! I leave Beacon Hills, and you’re complaining about having no one to hang out with, I come home and suddenly there’s this kid who seems to have materialized out of nowhere, and no one will tell me where he came from! Did a stork drop him on your doorstep or something?” The two boys were at Stiles’ locker at this point. He was tossing folders and notebooks into his backpack carelessly.

“It’s hard to explain,” Scott said.

“Of course it is,” Stiles muttered. “Like I said, Scott, we’re going to your house, so it’s your decision. It would just be nice to hang out with you alone for once.” The warning bell rang, saving the boys from continuing their argument. Stiles turned on his heel and headed towards his Chemistry class.

 

Isaac woke up so early on Friday morning that the sun was barely over the horizon. His breathing was unsteady and he felt sweat coating his forehead. Isaac looked over at his digital clock and it read 5:30.

He rolled over and tried to fall back asleep but his mind could not shut down. The idea of seeing his father again terrified him. The last time he had seen his father was the day the police had taken him out of the. But today was when they would go to court to determine Isaac’s fate.

He lay in his bed until his alarm went off at 7 and decided it would now be a good time to get ready. He put on a white button up and a pair of black slacks that he had bought just for this occasion.

Derek was dressed and almost finished with breakfast when Isaac came downstairs. He poured himself some cereal and joined Derek at the kitchen counter.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Isaac asked. “How does this all play out?”

“Well hopefully today will be the last time you see your father. There is already substantial evidence that your father abused you, so there won’t be a lot to argue.” Derek explained.

“Do I have to do anything?” Isaac asked.

“You may need to give a statement.” Derek answered. He rinsed his bowl in the sink then placed it in the dishwasher. “We should be leaving in 20 minutes.” Derek squeezed Isaac’s shoulder as he passed him.

It was 7:30 when Derek and Isaac left the loft. When they arrived at Beacon Hills County Court Isaac didn’t exit the car when Derek got out. Derek noticed he wasn’t moving then climbed back into the car. “You okay, Isaac?” Derek asked.

“Yeah,” but Isaac stayed still.

“I know this must see scary but I’ve got your back Isaac, there’s nothing to worry about. All of this is finally ending.”

Isaac inwardly scoffed. Nothing was ending. This was just a whole new chapter. Derek didn’t know about the panic attacks and the nightmares and the fact that several times a week Isaac would wake up feeling claustrophobic and had to escape the loft and pace the hallway outside the loft.

“Do you want to sit in a here a couple more minutes?” Derek asked. “Collect your thoughts then I can text you when you need to come in?”

“No, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, let’s go. I’m ready for this to be over.”

The two of them climbed out of the Camaro, and headed inside.

The courthouse was fairly empty when Derek and Isaac walked in. They searched for their assigned courtroom and when they walked in only a couple people sat in the benches, among them Nurse McCall. Isaac was surprised to see her, She sent him a comforting smile when she noticed him and he smiled back. Isaac had lived with the McCalls for a few days after he had been taken away from his father and Derek had not become involved. Melissa had treated him like her second son and had beared witness to a couple of Isaac’s nightmares. Knowing that she was there gave Isaac a little more confidence. In the front of the room a man in his 40’s, wearing an expensive suit signaled to them and Derek and Isaac walked over.

“Good morning, David,” Derek greeted the man, shaking his hand.

“Hello Derek,” The man replied. “Hi, Isaac.”

“Hi Mr. Whittemore,” Isaac greeted.

“You ready for this, son?” Mr. Whittemore asked.

Isaac doesn’t reply to the question and asks instead: “Do I need get up and talk?”

“We’ll need you to give the judge and jury some details on what your father has done to you,” Mr. Whittemore answers. “It won’t take too long. Don’t worry. Everything will be sorted after today.”

Isaac joined Mr. Whittemore past the gate that separated the viewers from the judge and jury. He sat down at the table.

“Everything will be fine.” Derek assured Isaac again then went to sit next to Ms. McCall.

From the side of the room Isaac’s father and his attorney arrived. Isaac made a point to not look in their direction. He couldn’t stand to meet his father’s menacing gaze. Isaac clutched the arms of the chair tightly so the slight shaking of his hands that had begun wouldn’t be noticed.

The jury and judge walked in and took their places. Once the judge announced that court was now in session, Isaac’s long day began.


	5. Chapter 5

“Court Dismissed.” The judge hit his gavel and Isaac breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was over. His father would be going to jail for a long time, he didn’t have to be afraid of going back to him.

“You alright, Isaac?” Mr. Whittemore asked him when Isaac’s father had been taken away. Isaac just nodded, he felt like he couldn’t talk. “You can leave now. You did well.” Isaac didn’t need to be told twice. He rushed to Derek and Melissa who were waiting for him by the door.

They were both grinning at him, and Isaac couldn’t help but smile back.

When they exited the courthouse Melissa wrapped Isaac in a hug. “I’m so proud of you, Isaac! I’m so glad this is over for you.”

“Thanks Melissa.”

“Now I’ve got to get back to work. I’ve got several long hours of nursing to do.” Melissa walked off to her car and left.

“Do you want to go back to the loft or go to school?” Derek asked.

“I’ll go to school. I can change back into regular clothes in the GYM locker room.”

“Okay,” The two of them walked back towards the Camaro. Without saying a word Derek wrapped an arm around Isaac’s shoulder and squeezed him tight.

On the drive to the high school Isaac texted Scott: **_“I’m on my way back to school.”_**

**_“How did it go?”_** Scott replied.

**_“I’ll tell you when I get there.”_ **

**_“Alright, we’ll probably be at lunch. By the way, want to come to my house after school and play video games with me and Stiles?”_ **

**_“Sure.”_** Isaac replied then asked: ** _“Is Stiles okay with it?”_**

**_“Why wouldn’t he be?”  
“I get the feeling he doesn’t like me.”_ **

**_“Bullshit. I promise it’ll be fun. There will be soda and nachos and Mario Kart.”_ **

**_“Sounds enticing enough!”_** Isaac replied ** _. “See you at lunch.”_**

“I’m going to Scott’s after school.” Isaac told Derek as they pulled up in front of the school.

“What time will you be back?” Derek asked.

“5 maybe. I’ll keep in touch.” Isaac replied.

“Sounds good. Text if you’re staying over for dinner.”

“I will. Bye Derek!” Isaac jumped out of the car and made his way into the school. He had to grab a planned absence pass from the attendance office, then he made his way to lunch.

He caught sight of Scott the moment he walked into the cafeteria. They sat in the corner of the lunchroom by the window.

“Hey Isaac!” Scott greeted.

“Hi,” Isaac sat down beside Scott and pulled out his lunch from his backpack.

“So how did it go?”

“I’m free,” was all Isaac said. He couldn’t help the grin that came across his face. It was practically unfathomable to him that he was finally free from his father, after years. He could wear t-shirts and not worry about bruises and he didn’t need to push friends away. He could be a normal teenager.

“That’s so great!!!” Scott exclaimed, wrapping Isaac in a rough hug and rocking them forcefully.

Isaac began to laugh. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, Scotty.”

“What’s so great?” Stiles asked from next to Scott.

“Oh nothing, Isaac just got to uhh… take care of something.” Scott covered.

Stiles’ gaze flicked between Scott and Isaac, looking skeptical. Isaac felt bad. He felt like Stiles didn’t like him because he was stealing Scott from Stiles but Isaac wasn’t meaning to. Scott was his first friend in a long time and a great one at that! He could be friends with Stiles too. Stiles is cool, he has interesting stories to tell and an infectious personality. What’s not to like about him! Isaac decided to himself that he would make an effort to get to know Stiles more. He could start after school today when they all hang out.

 

When the bell rang everyone flooded out of the cafeteria and Isaac accidentally bumped into someone.

“Hey! Watch it!” The person demanded. “Oh heeeyy Lahey!”

Isaac looked over to see Jackson Whittemore grinning wickedly at him. Isaac just stared back, not knowing what to say. Isaac used to live across the street from Jackson and he knew Jackson had heard the fights, his father wasn’t quiet about it. On top of that Jackson’s father was Isaac’s lawyer, he must have heard about the case at home. Isaac’s suspicions were confirmed when Jackson asked “So how’s your dad doing these days?”

Before Isaac replied, Scott butted in. “Fuck off, Jackson.”

“What, I’m just asking Isaac here a question.”

“You’re such a dick.” Scott replied.

“Suit yourself, McCall. A man just can’t be polite anymore. This is a cold, cruel world.” And with that, Jackson walked off, smirking.

“He has no fucking conscience.” Isaac commented bitterly.

“Tell me about it.” Scott replied. “Don’t let him get to you.”

“Trust me, I won’t.” Isaac muttered, trying to shake off the slight wave of anxiety that had hit him.

The warning bell rang to signal that everyone had a minute to get to class. “Okay, so meet at Stiles’ car after school today. You remember which one it is, right? It’s that shitty blue jeep.”

“Yeah I remember, see you then.” Isaac replied.

Scott rushed off to Economics while Isaac headed towards his Trig class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I have a couple announcements!
> 
> 1) This update goes out to my best friend Kayti who turned 20 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! This is half of your present, the second half should be shipped out to you by Tuesday.
> 
> 2) As of Friday, May 23 I HAVE FINISHED WITH HIGH SCHOOL. Which means no homework to keep me away from updating. So I will say it now. I will try to update once a week. It will stay steady. I really want to stick with that especially since I have nothing to do for a while.
> 
> Also this update is 200 words shorter than normal and I feel bad about it. But when a chapter has to end a chapter has to end. It just felt right ending it where I did.


	6. Chapter 6

When Stiles entered his English class his eyes immediately landed on Isaac. He had his head lying on the desk with his eyes closed. Stiles took the seat next to Isaac and said “Hello.”

Isaac jolted, and stared around wildly until his eyes landed on Stiles. “Oh, hi.”

“You okay?” Stiles asked, nonchalantly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Stiles didn’t believe him. He knew that kind of “I’m fine”, it was the one he had given Scott and his dad every day for two years after his mom died. He was about to ask if Isaac wanted to talk about whatever was bothering him when he remembered how Scott had brushed him off at lunch. Stiles felt a combination of anger and jealousy flash before him. Why the hell would no one tell him what was going on!

“What are the plans for after school today?” Isaac asked Stiles.

“What?” Stiles replied dumbly.

“After school, Scott invited me over to hang out with you guys. Is that okay, did Scott tell you?” Isaac explained.

“No, he told me. It’s fine. We’re going to Scott’s.”

“Do you have a problem with it?” Isaac asked.

“Nope.” Stiles was saved from this conversation by the bell ringing.

“Alright guys, we’re going to be doing something fun today.” Ms. Blake announced once the class had settled down. “For the past two weeks we’ve been reading a lot of poetry. We have analyzed it for themes, motifs, and seeing how the poets have used literary devices to get their message across. So today, we’re going to try our own hand at poetry.” Everyone in the class let out a groan. “Oh don’t worry I’m not throwing you in the deep end just yet. We’ll start easy. You have to write a haiku about what’s currently on your mind. Maybe it’s something you’re worried about, or something you’re excited for. Whatever it is, write a haiku about it. You have 15 minutes.”

Stiles sat there, looking blankly at his notebook. He hated poetry. He could read it, and analyze it just fine. But when it comes to writing, he was shit out of luck.

Ms. Blake walked past Stiles’ desk and said “You having trouble?”

“I suck at poetry.” Stiles admitted to her.

“You don’t have to be Sylvia Plath to write poetry, Stiles. Just write what you want to write about. Whatever is easiest for you.” She told him and she continued to walk down the aisle of desks.

“Easier said than done.” Stiles murmured. He looked over at Isaac who looked just as troubled. Unlike Stiles, Isaac actually had words written down on his paper. It was a list of what Isaac could possible write. Among them Stiles spotted one that said:

  *       Not having to be frightened of dad anymore.



Stiles’ brow furrowed in confusion. Stiles had thought it strange that Isaac lived with Derek, but he had never really thought about it at length.

The one below it said:

  *       Stiles not liking me.



The second one caught Stiles off guard as well and he quickly reverted his gaze back to his own paper before Isaac noticed he had been looking. Stiles will admit that he hadn’t been the kindest to Isaac, probably a little sassier than was necessary but he didn’t think that Isaac actually cared. A wave of guilt crashed through Stiles. He didn’t know anything about Isaac, and maybe he didn’t deserve to. Stiles never really thought about WHY everyone was leaving him out of the loop and maybe it was for a good reason. Stiles cast another glance towards Isaac who was now writing in his notebook. He had been an asshole to Isaac, and he really needed to change that.

Stiles exhaled loudly then began writing down ideas for a poem.

 

The last bell of the day rang and everyone rushed out the door. Isaac was ahead of Stiles and before he could walk too far Stiles yelled “Hey Isaac!”

Isaac turned around, confused. “What?”

“Wanna walk to my car together?” Stiles asked.

“I need to go to my locker.” Isaac answered

“That’s fine. We can go there first. Let me just grab some stuff from my locker.” Stiles replied.

Isaac idled awkwardly beside Stiles as Stiles shoved books and folders into his locker. He slammed it closed with gusto then said “Lead the way to your locker.”

Isaac and Stiles weaved through the crowd of kids that were all leaving.

“What are your plans for the weekend? Stiles asked Isaac when they had reached Isaac’s locker.

“Nothing.” Isaac replied. “Homework, watching TV, sleeping.”

“Well Scott and I usually end up sleeping over at whatever house we’re at on Friday’s so you should stick around as well.”

Isaac didn’t reply for a minute or so, he just continued to grab things from his locker instead of answering. When he had closed and locked his locker he replied. “If you guys want me to, then I’d be up for it. I’m sure Derek would love to know I’m actually socializing, especially after today.” Isaac’s eyes went wide for a second, as if he hadn’t meant to let that last part slip out.

Stiles chose to ignore it and said: “We can stop by your house and pick anything up if you need it.”

The two boys exited the building, and spotted Scott who was leaning against Stiles’ Jeep kissing Allison.

“Hey! Stop defiling my baby!!” Stiles screamed at them from halfway across the lot. He ran over to the car with Isaac trailing behind.

“Seriously guys, why can’t you kiss on someone else’s car.” Stiles complained as they continued to make out on the hood of the Jeep

“Because your disgust and annoyance make me happy.” Scott shot back after he parted from Allison, an evil grin plastered across his face.

“You’re such a fucking asshole.” Stiles replied shaking his head in disgust. “Do you need a ride, Allison?”

“No, I’m getting one with Lydia.” Allison replied. “Oh look, here she comes now!”

Lydia came flouncing down the stairs with Jackson in tow, his usual smug expression on his face.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later, babe!” Allison kissed Scott one more time then ran over to join Lydia and Jackson.

“What does she even see in him.” Stiles muttered incredulously as he got into the car.

“His status and muscles.” Scott replied, deadpan from beside Stiles.

“He’s such a fucking asshole though!”

“Who are we talking about?” Isaac asked from the backseat.

“Jackson and Lydia.” Stiles replied.

“Stiles has been in love with Lydia since the third grade.” Scott said.

“Not anymore, I’m not! She’s not my type anymore. I just don’t like seeing her with such an asshole.”

“Maybe Jackson is your type.” Scott replied a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Hell fucking no!!” Stiles replied. He began backing out of his parking spot.

“You like boys?” Isaac asked Stiles.

“To be honest, I like anything as long as it has a pulse, at least a couple nice features and a good personality. I can’t be picky.” Stiles replied. “Do you need to stop by your house first, Isaac?” Stiles asked him next.

“Sure. I’ll only be a couple of minutes.” Isaac answered.

Stiles nodded, and drove out of the school parking lot towards Derek’s loft.


	7. Chapter 7

Isaac bounded up the stairs of the Derek’s building to the loft. Stiles and Scott were waiting for him in the parking lot while he grabbed some overnight essentials.

Derek was watching TV when Isaac rushed in.

“I thought you were going to Scott’s today?” Derek asked.

“I am. But they invited me to stay the night so I’m just grabbing some stuff.” Isaac explained.

“Okay, Well, be safe and all that.” Derek replied, grinning at Isaac.

Isaac replied with a predictable “I will.” He grabbed his toothbrush from the bathroom and some clothes for tomorrow then threw them into an empty bag that he pulled out from under his bed. He zipped the bag up as he ran out the door yelling a “goodbye” over his shoulder to Derek, then he slammed the loft door shut and made his way back to the Jeep.

“You ready?” Scott asked.

“Got everything I need.” Isaac replied.

Stiles drove the three of them to Scott’s house and once he had parked across the street the three of them made their way into the McCall household.

“My mom won’t be home until late tonight. She switched shifts with a coworker so she could get the morning off.” Scott explained.

“Where was she this morning?” Stiles asked.

“She had to take care of a few things.” Scott replied. “There was this meeting she needed to go to.”

“Sounds fun.” Stiles replied, half interested.

“So, food orrr movie.” Scott prompted.

“Food.” Isaac and Stiles replied simultaneously.

They all made their way into the kitchen.

 

It was Midnight when Scott’s mom arrived home where she found Scott, Isaac, and Stiles all piled onto the couch watching Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

“Hey boys.” She replied.

They all called back their replies but not moving their eyes from the screen, completely enraptured by the fight that was currently happening.

“How late do you guys plan on staying up?” Melissa asked them.

“Until we’ve finished The Last Crusade.” Stiles replied.

“We’re not going to watch The Crystal Skull?” Scott asked.

“Scotty, we pretend that that one doesn’t exist.” Stiles chided.

“It was so good though!” Scott defended.

“It was a piece of crap addition to the franchise.” Stiles reprimanded. “Back me up here, Isaac?”

“I’ve never seen the movies before.” Isaac admitted.

Stiles gaped at him. “You’ve never seen Indiana Jones before!”

“Nope.” Isaac replied.

“Well good thing you’re watching them now!” Stiles exclaimed. “Please tell me you’ve at least seen Star Wars, though.”

Isaac shook his head.

Stiles practically let out a whine of pain. “We need to fix this. Just write down a list of movies you haven’t seen and we’re going to spend every weekend watching them until you’ve been caught up to speed.”

Isaac gave Stiles a ‘thumbs up’ as an affirmation.

“Well you guys have fun with your movie marathon and don’t fall asleep on the couch it’s not good for you.” Melissa told them as she went upstairs to shower then sleep.

Scott fell asleep towards the last half of the film, leaving just Stiles and Isaac.

“So you wanna start the next one?” Stiles asked Isaac.

“If you want to. I’m not really tired so I can make it to the next movie.” Isaac answered.

“The next movie it is then.” Stiles replied and he stood up to enter the DVD into the player. Then he took his place back on the couch beside a curled up Scott.

As the opening credits started Stiles turned to Issac and said “You’re a cool guy, Isaac.”

A slight blush shaded Isaac’s cheeks pink. “You’re not so bad yourself, Stiles.”

Stiles and Isaac settled in to watch Indiana Jones kick ass with a snoring Scott between them. When the movie finished Stiles asked “So what do you think of Indiana Jones?”

“It was good. The third movie was probably my favorite.” Isaac replied.

“I agree. The third movie is the best. However the leading lady in the first movie is the best of the three women, but you do have Short Round in Temple of Doom. Honestly they’re all just amazing, but Sean Connery as Indy’s father is classic. Especially since he’s so corny in this as an action guy but Sean Connery actually played James Bond who was suave as fuck. Also his lisp or accent thing is just hilarious!” Stiles ranted. He didn’t pause a lot and some of the words ran together in his haste to get them out.

Isaac just listened to him talk excitedly. He liked listening to Stiles talk. It was like Stiles’ mind just worked too fast for him to speak and Isaac like the sound of the half jumbled words that fell out of his mouth.

“I was serious that we should do this again. Like watch movies and stuff. Scott doesn’t appreciate good cinema. He likes it and everything but as you can tell he isn’t as interested in it as I am.” Stiles continued.

“I didn’t get to watch a lot of movies when I was younger so I’d love to. You can teach me all there is to know about movies.” Isaac told him.

“That would be awesome! Are you free next weekend? We can start with Lord of the Rings. That will be so long though because we need to watch the Extended Edition. So we’ll need a whole weekend for that. You can just spend the night at my house next Friday.”

“Would Scott come?” Isaac asked.

“Nah, he’ll have a date with Allison. Allison and I pretty much have shared custody over him. We switch off every other Friday.” Stiles joked.

Just then the boy in question groaned and squirmed. Scott looked up at Stiles and Isaac who were facing each other on either side of Scott.

“How are you guys still awake?” He said.

“Sleep is for the weak, Scott.” Stiles stated.

“Then call me weak, I’m going upstairs to bed.” Scott replied then he stumbled up the stairs.

“I should probably go to bed too.” Isaac replied once Scott had left the room. “My dad will-“ Then he stopped. Isaac realized that his dad didn’t need anything anymore, he could do what he wanted. Derek wouldn’t need him tomorrow. “On second thought, what do you say to one more movie?” Isaac suggested.

“I like the way you think, Lahey.” Stiles replied grinning at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the reason I posted this so soon after my last update is because I will be out of the country and away from a computer from June 4th to June 13th which means no update until then. :( I hope this tides you over until then! I'm really glad you guys are loving this story as much as I am! I haven't written this much and this often in forever. I'll talk to you guys when I get back from my trip!


	8. Chapter 8

After leaving Scott’s house on Saturday morning Isaac spent the rest of the weekend doing homework and watching TV. He had the house to himself on Saturday night so he spent it marathoning some show Stiles suggested to him. It involved time travel and a lot of science fiction and honestly Isaac wasn’t too entertained but Stiles lent him the whole of season 1 on DVD and there was nothing else to watch on TV so Isaac just casually watched it. When Derek arrived home the next morning he found Isaac crashed on the couch with the DVD player still running and an empty bowl pot of what was most likely Mac n Cheese on the coffee table.

“Good morning, Isaac!” Derek called to him as he took away the pot to wash in the sink.

Isaac groaned from the couch and slowly opened his eyes. “Hey Derek.” He replied.

“What were you watching?” Derek asked him from the kitchen.

“Some show Stiles lent to me. I don’t really get it though.” Isaac answered as he stood up and stretched.

“Who’s Stiles again?” Derek asked.

“Scott’s best friend. I met him at that party before school started and he sits with us at lunch. He’s in my English class too.” Isaac explained. “Remember after the first day of school we went to dinner and we ran into Sheriff Stilinski and Scott? Well Stiles was with them. He’s the Sheriff’s son.”

“Oh yeah, now I remember him!” Derek exclaimed.

“Yeah, well he was there at Scott’s last night, too. We’re actually going to hang out next weekend too. I’m going to sleepover there. If that’s okay with you.”

“I’m okay with it.” Derek replied. He had put the pot in the drying rack and was now facing Isaac. Derek had this habit of looking at Isaac directly in the eye whenever they talked. It was just a part of Derek’s whole “I’m showing you that I’m listening and care about what you are saying” regime but it really just made Isaac uncomfortable.

“Great, thanks. Well I need to finish up some homework so I’ll be upstairs.” He backed away from the counter and headed up the stairs to his bedroom. 

 

Monday morning came early for Isaac. He woke up at 6 AM, an hour earlier than when his alarm was supposed to go off because of a nightmare. It was a recurring one where his father locked him in the fridge because he failed a test. Isaac’s shirt was drenched with sweat and his breathing was labored. He nearly tripped when rushing out of bed because of how twisted the sheets were around his legs. His room suddenly felt too small and cramped, despite the fact that it was larger than his old bedroom. He felt like he was too tall and the ceiling was closing in on him, he just wanted to be smaller so he could have more room. He sat down on the ground by his bed with his head in his hands and tried to focus on his breathing. He counted to four as he inhaled, paused, then counted to four again as he exhaled. His heart was still beating rapidly but his breathing evened out. When he felt like he had control again he sat up straight.

He heard a buzzing from his bedside table and saw his phone light up with a text. He stood up and grabbed his phone. It was a text from Stiles.

**_“Do you want a ride today? Also, sorry if I woke you up.”_ **

**_“Yes please, and you didn’t.”_** Isaac replied.

**_“Whew, good, Scott always gets pissed if I text him before he’s awake.”_ **

**_“Drama queen.”_ **

**_“Tell me about it. I have to go take a shower now, see you at 7:40.”_ **

Isaac looked at the time, it was now 6:30. Isaac’s breathing had evened out and his heart was beating at a normal rate. He sat back down on his bed and let out a sigh. He thought he was free from his dad but maybe not as scott-free as he thought. Now that his panic had abated he was angry at himself. He doesn’t need to be scared anymore, he watched his father being escorted away to jail for a very long time. He should be moving on now. The past stays in the past. Isaac scrubbed at his face with his hands and let out a big sigh.

A loud beep from his alarm clock startled Isaac out of his inter turmoil. He slapped the off button and began getting ready for school. 

 

Isaac had been ready for ten minutes when Scott texted Isaac that him and Stiles were on their way to pick him up. He grabbed his backpack and began to head down towards to door.

“Bye Derek!” He called.

“Hey, Isaac!” Derek called back. He appeared from the bathroom with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.

“Yeah?” Isaac asked.

“You doing okay? You look a little careworn.”

“I’m fine.” Isaac answered a little too quickly.

“You sure?” 

“Yes!” Isaac insisted.

“Okay, well I’m sure you hate me saying this but I’m here to talk.” Derek reminded him.

“Thanks” Isaac replied half-heartedly. He exited the loft and ran down the stairs. The Jeep was idling outside the front door when Isaac came outside. He jumped into the backseat and muttered a “hey”

“Yo,” Stiles replied.

Scott looked back at Isaac who was doing his best to make it look like he was fine. ‘You okay?’ Scott mouthed at him. Isaac just shrugged. It was going to be a long day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! After two trips with limited internet access I finally managed to write a new chapter and post it. It is 100 or so words shorter than I normally write but that's kind of how the chapter panned out. Expect a chapter out next week! Also how bout that season 4 premiere!!! I'm kind of shipping Malia and Kira now... I am calling it Mira.


	9. Chapter 9

Stiles was hyper aware of Isaac through the whole drive to school. Isaac hadn’t said a word since he got into the car but he kept letting out big sighs. It put Stiles on edge. He sent a questioning look towards Scott in the passenger seat which Scott just replied to with a shrug. When they finally made it to school Isaac was the first person to jump out of the Jeep and told Stiles and Scott “I’ll see you at lunch” before rushing into the school.

“Should one of us talk to him?” Stiles asked. “He seems really on edge.”

“He probably wouldn’t talk,” Scott replied. “Just let him be for a bit, I’m sure he’ll be fine by lunch.”

Stiles gave Scott a skeptical look. “I don’t know, he seemed really troubled by something.”

“Well whatever it is, it’s not our business,” Scott deflected.

“I still feel like you know something I don’t,” Stiles muttered.

Scott scoffed at him. “Let’s just get to class.”

The two boys followed Isaac’s path into the school just as the 8 o’ clock bell rang. After exchanging goodbyes, they headed towards their first period classes.

~~~

Isaac grew more relaxed as the day wore on. His dream faded and was replaced by dates in history and math formulas. He was still a little jumpy but he wasn’t wallowing in anger and frustration anymore. By the time lunch rolled around, he was almost 100% again.

He grabbed his hot lunch and sat down between Lydia and Scott. Lydia was immersed in her AP Chemistry textbook.

“You actually read your textbook?” Isaac asked.

Lydia lifted her head and gave Isaac a critical look. Her intimidating gaze made Isaac want to back up a bit.

“Lyds, stop trying to turn Isaac to stone,” Isaac heard Stiles demand, as he sat down across from Isaac.

Lydia’s gaze didn’t leave Isaac but it changed from challenging to curiosity. “So you’re Isaac. We haven’t officially met.”

“We did once actually. At a party Scott dragged me to before school started. You weren’t really paying attention to me though. You just hugged Allison then dragged that guy Aiden off upstairs,” Isaac explained.

“I said we never officially met, Isaac, but I remember who you are. I remember seeing you there. You looked so awkward, you stood out like a sore thumb.”

“Don’t listen to Lydia,” Stiles interjected. “She’s just PMSing, don’t worry about her.”

“Say something like that again, Stiles Stilinski and I’ll make sure you won’t be playing in the next Lacrosse game.”

“Oh yeah, and how would you do that?”

“It’s not hard to get Harris to give you a detention. Just throw a ball of paper at him and he’ll blame you.” Lydia smirked at Stiles, whose face had turned into a scowl.

“I hate you,” he said.

“Sweetheart, you wish you could hate me,” Lydia replied and with that she began reading her textbook again.

Isaac stared at Stiles wide-eyed and mouthed “She’s terrifying!” Stiles just nodded.

~~~

Ms. Blake wasn’t in the classroom when Isaac walked into English. Most of the class were seated and talking. Stiles was sitting in his usual seat creating quite an elaborate paper airplane. He was so focused on his task that when Isaac sat down next to him and said hello, Stiles jumped.

“Don’t just sneak up on a person like that, Isaac! You could give someone a heart attack!”

“I’ll make sure to make as much noise as possible next time I walk up to you,” Isaac replied, smirking at Stiles.

“That’s all I ask for,” Stiles said then he went back to his paper airplane. After adding his finishing touches Stiles threw it, letting it take off across the classroom. Watching it fall to the floor on the other side to the room, Stiles turned fully to Isaac and said “you okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Isaac asked.

“You looked really perturbed this morning,” Stiles answered.

“Perturbed. Nice choice of words,” Isaac replied.

“I picked that one up from Scott. He had this thing last year where he learned a bunch of new words for the SAT. I don’t think it helped,” Stiles explained. “Wait! Don’t change the subject! Seriously, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry, Stiles. Even if I wasn’t, I live with a social worker. He’d make me talk about it eventually.” Isaac assured him.

“Good. Are we still on for Friday?” Stiles asked, changing the subject.

“Yes! I’ve been doing some research on Lord of the Rings. The director sounds a little nutso.”

“Don’t insult Peter Jackson! He may have a major love affair with Tolkien's books but he took his love affair and created something beautiful out of it,” Stiles said.

Isaac just gave him a skeptical look. “I’ll take your word for it.”

The two boys bantered like this for quite some time until someone in the class shouted “15 minutes!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Isaac asked.

“If the teacher doesn’t show up for 15 minutes then we get to leave.”

“That’s really a thing?”

“Oh yeah, come on, we can go to downtown Beacon Hills or something, not that there’s much of it, but we can cause some sort of mayhem.”

Isaac followed Stiles out of the class.

~~~

They stopped at their lockers to grab coats. The weather was starting to cool down a little as they entered mid-October. They snuck out of the back entrance of the school and ran to Stiles’ car.

“Video games at my house?” Stiles suggested.

“What about something a little bit more adventurous?”

“What do you suggest, Lahey?”

“Take a nice hike through the Beacon Hills Preserve. See what wonders we can find there.”

“It’s like you read my mind.”

They drove to the edge of the preserve and got out of the car and stood at the trailhead where it split off into three ways.

“Pick a direction,” Stiles demanded.

Isaac pointed down the left path.

“To the left it is.”

They began their trek.

~~~

They walked in silence for a while until Stiles asked. “Isaac, how are you related to Derek?”

Isaac was taken aback by this question. “Umm…”

“Sorry, that was rude. You don’t have to answer that. Sometimes I just blurt out questions without thinking.”

“No, it’s fine,” Isaac assured him. “Derek and I… We’re not related. Legally he’s my foster parent but he’s more like a live-in therapist, or brother figure. He took me in after my dad was put in jail,” Isaac explained and went on to joke, “Don’t ask me why my dad was put in jail though. I’ve talked about that too much with professionals already.”

“I won’t,” Stiles said.

They continued to walk in silence for a long time.

“We should probably be getting back soon,” Isaac said after a while. “School’s out by now and Derek’s probably wondering where I am.”

“Does he expect you home right after school?” Stiles asked

“No.”

“Then why don’t we just continue walking for a bit? If he asks where you are, say you’re hanging out with me. That’s not a lie. We’ll just leave out the minor detail of skipping out of school early.”

“I thought we were allowed to leave after 15 minutes?”

“Well we’re allowed to leave the class, not the school.”

“I’m starting to think that you’re trying to corrupt me, Stilinski.”

“Maybe I am, Lahey.”

They stopped walking and faced each other. Stiles had a smirk playing across his face and Isaac couldn’t quite figure out what Stiles was trying to convey.

He stared back with a calculating look.

For the first time Isaac noticed Stiles’ eyes. They weren’t like Scott’s chocolate brown which always have this excited glow in them. Stiles’ were amber, the kind of amber that looked like it should be bottled and put in a bar. Stiles’ eyes were bright, they glinted with mischief and it sent a slight thrill through Isaac. It had been a long time since he had been able to be anything but afraid. Stiles was full of attitude and sass and Isaac liked that about him. He could use some of that in his life.

“You blinked.”

“What?”

“You blinked,” Stiles said again. “I won the staring contest.”

“Well if I had known this was a staring contest then I would have actually tried,” Isaac replied, trying to hide the fact that he had been studying Stiles’ face.

“Well excuse me, then!”

“You’re excused,” Isaac replied.

“Dick” Stiles pushed him lightly. “So do you want to head back?”

“Yeah let’s go.”

They began walking back to the way they came.

“Are we still on for Friday?” Stiles asked.

‘You’ve asked me this three times now. Yes! Don’t worry I promise I won’t abandon you to spend your Friday alone,” Isaac answered.

“That’s all I ask for.”

~~~

Derek was home when Isaac entered the loft.

“Hey, where were you?” Derek asked him.

“I was hanging out with Stiles,” Isaac answered. “Sorry I didn’t text you.”

“It’s fine,” Derek assured him. “How are you feeling?”

“Great!” Isaac replied honestly. “I’m going to do some homework, yell for me if you need help with dinner.”

“Will do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE INTERNET! WHICH MEANS I CAN FINALLY POST THIS!! I have had this written since last week but I've been at my sister's house which didn't have internet for a few days. But we now have it and I can finally post it!  
> As always thanks to Kayti who beta'd this for me. You guys should thank her too because without her you would have a lot of grammatical errors to suffer through. ;)


	10. Chapter 10

“Hey Isaac, what do you want to eat for dinner?” Stiles asked him. He was leaning against the locker next to Isaac’s idly fiddling with his backpack straps.

It was Friday afternoon and school had just gotten out. Stiles and Isaac’s long awaited sleepover and LOTR marathon had come.

“I’m kind of down for Mexican,” Isaac said.

“Mexican sounds good. There’s a local place that delivers that has some quality burritos.”

“That sounds awesome.”

Isaac slammed his locker shut and the two of them walked outside, towards Stiles’ jeep. 

“I think my dad is working late tonight so we have the house to ourselves tonight,” Stiles said as he got into the jeep.

It was a short drive from the school to Stiles’ house. When they arrived, Stiles parked the jeep in the garage and grabbed his backpack, Isaac did the same.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Stiles asked when they entered the house.

“Nah, where can I drop my stuff?”

“In my room. Up the stairs, first door on the right.”

“Kay thanks.”

When Isaac came downstairs Stiles was sitting in front of the TV fiddling with the DVD player. “Are you ready to watch the best trilogy in existence?” Stiles asked once he had gotten the DVD in and the home screen playing.

“I guess. I certainly hope it lives up to your hype.”

“If it doesn’t we may have to reconsider this friendship,” Stiles warned.

They spent the next hours parked in front of the television, one Lord of the Rings movie playing after another, breaking briefly for a dinner of take-out Mexican from downtown.

By the time they finished the Two Towers, Sheriff Stilinski was home. Stiles was slouched in the recliner while Isaac was spread out on the couch, their empty plates stacked on the coffee table.

The Sheriff took one look at them and rolled his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. Stiles just told him to stop judging.

“Do you want to watch the last one?” Stiles asked Isaac.

Isaac just nods. 

Stiles got up to put in the third movie.

Both boys fell asleep halfway through the movie.

~~~ 

“Hey. Isaac. Wake up.” Someone was shaking Isaac awake.

Isaac just groaned.

“It’s 3 in the morning dude. We should go upstairs; there’s a blow up mattress I can set up for you to sleep on.” 

Isaac rubbed his eyes and looked blearily at Stiles who was standing behind the couch. He stretched, and let out another groan then stood up. He followed Stiles up the stairs and immediately collapsed onto Stiles’ bed.

“That’s my bed, buddy. I’m gonna have to kick you off at some point.”

“I dare you,” Isaac said.

Stiles just ignored him and got his mattress ready. Isaac then proceeded to roll from the bed, on to the mattress and pulled the covers over his body fully clothed.

“You’re really going to wear your jeans to bed,” Stiles said as he changed from his plaid and jeans to a pair of pajama pants and a plain t shirt.

Isaac sighed, sat up and to struggle with his jeans. When he finally got them off he threw them playfully at Stiles and proceeded to snuggle back under the covers. “Happy?” he asked.

“Yes, now it’ll be easier to defile you in your sleep,” Stiles said.

“You disgust me,” Isaac told him.

“I will defenestrate you.”

“You’re too weak to throw me out the window.”

“Go to bed, Lahey.”

“You first, Stilinski.”

~~~

Isaac was dreaming of his father, of before his father was abusive and when his dad helped him with math homework and played catch with him and Camden in the backyard. 

Isaac was a child again. His father was pushing him on the swing. Isaac was telling his father to push him higher and his father happily agreed. Isaac clutched the chain link of the swing as he soared up towards the sky but when the swing came down Isaac’s father didn’t push him back up. Instead he grabbed the swing and it stopped suddenly. He dragged Isaac off of the swing and threw him to the ground. Isaac cried out in pain. Isaac’s father began hitting him. Isaac screamed and begged him to stop but that did nothing to appease his father. He kept hitting Isaac over and over and Isaac continued to cry.

Isaac jolted awake. It was dark and he had no idea where he was. He searched the room frantically until he saw Stiles sprawled across a bed in the corner of the room. He willed his breathing to level out, fearing he might pass out, and rushed to the bathroom. 

The bathroom felt too small the moment Isaac closed the door so he opened the window as wide as he could and sat under it, shivering from the aftershocks from his nightmare and the chilly night air that cooled the sweat on his body. Isaac could feel the tears leaking out of his eyes. He willed them away by pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes hard.

A knocking on the door startled Isaac. “Hey, Isaac are you okay?” came Stiles’ concerned voice.

“What! Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Isaac said, but he knew he did not sound fine at all. His voice was higher than normal and it shook like a leaf.

“You sure?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah,” Isaac replied automatically. He stood up and bent over to the sink to splash water on his face. When he straightened up he caught sight of his reflection. He was pale and his eyes were tinged slightly red. He scrubbed his face again and tried to shake off his jitters, but it did little to help.

Stiles was standing outside when Isaac opened the bathroom door, leaning against the wall across the hall. When he looked up he gave Isaac a confused look. “Do you want some tea?” Stiles asked, as a silent form of reassurance. “It’ll be decaf so you don’t have to worry about getting jittery, my dad doesn’t keep caffeine in the house in general. It doesn’t mix well with my Adderall.”

“Tea sounds like a great idea,” Isaac said, his voice sounding steadier.

“Great, follow me.”

They made their way downstairs and into the kitchen where Isaac sat down at the table while Stiles made the tea. When he got the kettle over the fire and the tea bags ready in the mugs, he sat down across from Isaac who was busy picking at his hangnails.

After an awkward silence, Stiles said, “soo, without overstepping my bounds here, I’m assuming that you’re not as fine as you say you are.”

Isaac looked up at him for a second then back down at his fingers and muttered, “no.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Stiles asked. “Sorry that sounded so much like a therapist, which you probably don’t want. I hated people asking me that question.”

Isaac smiled slightly. His hands were cl.asped on the table now but he still continued to stare at them. After a moment Isaac said, “I had a nightmare about my dad. And this is not the first time that’s happened. Not even far from the first time if I’m going to be honest.”

“I’ve had those before,” Stiles said. “Nightmares about my dad, I mean. They were night terrors actually.”

Isaac looked up at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, they happened after my mom died, I was eight. My dad, he… he started drinking a lot. He never got violent but I was afraid he would. He just got really passive, he took care of me but our relationship was lost. He would get home from work, grab a bottle of Jack Daniels, park himself in front of the TV and watch the news until he had to make dinner. I thought he blamed me for my mom’s death; I blamed me too. I would have these dreams where he would scream about how he was stuck with me and how he has no idea what to do with me and it was all my fault and he would throw glass bottles at me. It was horrible. It got to the point where I began avoiding my dad because of the dreams. Eventually he noticed and we went to a therapist and when I finally told them the dreams I was having, that’s when things began to get better. My dad felt so guilty. He threw out all of the liquor in the house, even took off a week from work. We drove to the coast and stayed in this B&B by the beach and spent the whole week going to the beach and going to see sports games and doing anything we wanted to do together. It didn’t fix everything, but it was a start. I slept in my dad’s bed for a month once we got back because I was afraid that if I wasn’t with him for a night, I’d go back to having the dreams and that maybe the dreams would come true.”

As Stiles finished talking the kettle began to whistle and he grabbed it to pour the hot water in the mugs. He placed the mugs on the table then grabbed two packets of sugar he gave one to Isaac and kept one for himself. “Sorry, I just told you my whole sob story. I don’t tell anyone often so when I start, I don’t really stop.”

“It’s fine. I can probably blow yours out of the water anyway,” Isaac attempted to joke. But the smile that accompanied the statement was as real as it was intended to be.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Stiles insisted.

“No, I want to. Especially after you shared all of that with me. Plus, if I don’t tell anyone I feel like I might explode.” Isaac took a sip of his tea then began with, “my dad abused me. It started when I was 10, just after my mom committed suicide. Up until then my family life was great. But afterwards my family just sort of fell apart. My dad began abusing my brother, Camden and I. Cam left as soon as he could, he enlisted in the army and left me on my own. I was 14 then. It continued like this for a long time, until in June he went too far and gave me a bad concussion. I blacked out and couldn’t remember a thing. So he took me to the hospital and that’s where I met Scott’s mom. She noticed the other bruises and cuts on my body and she asked if my dad was hurting me and she got me away from my dad that night. That’s basically the summary of what happened this summer.” Isaac’s tea was now cold and his mug was still mostly full.

After a long moment Stiles murmurs, “do you want your tea warmed up?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Another long pause.

“So your dream was basically about your dad hurting you.”

“Yeah, but please don’t ask me the details, I’d rather not relive it.”

“I won’t. I mean, you just opened up to me in ways that I probably don’t deserve.”

“I think it’s because it’s 4 AM. People are always more emotional at early hours of the morning.”

“True,” Stiles said. He washed his empty mug in the sink then put it in the dishwasher. He did the same with Isaac’s when he realized that Isaac wasn’t even remotely interested in the tea. “Do you want to finish Return of the King? We kind of passed out halfway through it.”

“No, let’s just go back to bed,” Isaac answered.

When they got back up to Stiles’ room Stiles said:,“you can sleep in my bed with me if you want. That air mattress is fucking uncomfortable.”

After a moment of consideration Isaac nodded and got in the bed beside Stiles who was already comfortable under the covers. They laid on their backs, side by side staring up at the ceiling.

Isaac felt slightly awkward and was very aware of where his body was in relation to Stiles’.

“Do you and Scott always do this?” Isaac asked.

“Sleep in the same bed? Yeah, except we always end up spooning,” Stiles answered.

Isaac laughed. “Who’s the big spoon?”

“Scott, but that’s mostly because he likes sleeping curled up to something. Don’t tell him I told you this, but he still sleeps with his teddy bear. He’s embarrassed by it but I find it adorable.”

“I know which teddy bear you’re talking about. When he first showed me around he pushed it off the bed but I’m pretty sure I heard him apologizing to it later.”

“Oh Scott, what a tender soul,” Stiles sighed.

“Indeed.”

They were quiet for a long time, both of them beginning to drift off into sleep. 

“Goodnight, Isaac,” Stiles murmured sleepily.

“Goodnight, Stiles,” Isaac replied.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual. Thanks to Kayti for beta-ing for me.  
> If you enjoyed this please comment! Sometimes I feel like I'm just shouting into the void when I get little feedback after posting a chapter. (Hint: If you comment it'll give me motivation to put up chapters faster.)  
> Also just a note. I am leaving for college in 8 days which means I will be extra busy, packing, moving then adjusting to living without my own shower, dog, and bed so if I don't update for a while I am so so sorry!  
> -Meredith


	11. Chapter 11

Isaac woke up with the sunlight warming his face and a body pressed tightly against his. He turned over onto his side and saw Stiles laying on his stomach pressed against Isaac’s side with his arm slung over him.

Isaac grabbed his phone from the bedside table and checked the time; it was just past noon. His stomach growled, begging for breakfast, or lunch, at this time of day. Isaac stretched and let out a groan as his joints popped.

Just then Stiles stirred beside him. He retracted his arm from across Isaac’s side and rubbed at his face “what time s’it?” He asked, his words slurred slightly from sleep.

“Just past noon,” Isaac replied.

“I’m starving, let’s get some food.”

“I am in favor of this plan.”

Stiles crawled out of bed and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts to put on over his boxers and a t shirt from the floor. “You need any clothes?” Stiles asked him.

“Yeah, I would appreciate it.”  Stiles tossed him a pair of pajama pants and Isaac grabbed the shirt he wore yesterday.

The two boys walked downstairs and headed straight to the kitchen where Stiles immediately grabbed an unopened box of pancake mix.

“So do you like plain or chocolate chip?” Stiles asked, facing Isaac.

“No preference,” Isaac replied.

“A little bit of both then. There’s some orange juice in the fridge if you want some.”

Isaac nodded and grabbed the bottle out of the fridge, pouring a glass each for himself and Stiles.

“Anything I can do to help?” Isaac asked.

“You can grab the chocolate chips from the pantry,” Stiles suggested, and Isaac did as he was told. “My mom and I used to make them all the time. Well, she would make them, I would play with the flour. She made hers from scratch but the Stilinski men are not that skilled quite yet so we settle for store-bought mix,” Stiles explained. He grabbed the skillet from a cupboard and put it on the stove, turning on the burners on under it. After he finished with that, he began to pour the pancake mix into a bowl and added the eggs and water. “We’ll make the plain ones first, then put in the chocolate chips.”

Isaac stood beside Stiles, feeling rather useless as Stiles continued to mix the ingredients. Once Stiles finished mixing the ingredients he poured some of the batter onto the skillet. “Can you take over now? I’m gonna check if my dad wants any.”

“Sure.”

“Just turn them over until they’re golden brown on both sides,” and with that Stiles went back upstairs.

Isaac flipped the pancakes every couple of minutes and when he thought there were enough of the plain he took it upon himself to add in the chocolate chips.

“My dad is appalled at the idea of pancakes at noon. Except knowing him he’ll sneak some of the leftovers at midnight tonight. Wow, these pancakes look amazing.” Stiles said when he came back downstairs.

“They’re not that hard to make,” Isaac said.

“I kept burning them when I started to make them on my own,” Stiles replied.

“I’m surprised your dad even lets you near a burner,” Isaac quipped.

“Please, I’d only burn the kitchen, my dad on the other hand would burn down the whole house if he tried to make anything more complicated than pasta. He’s a griller, not a cooker.”

When they had used all of the batter up they piled the pancakes on a plate and between them and grabbed as many as they pleased. Stiles drowned his pancakes (and plate) in syrup but Isaac just poured enough for the pancakes to be perfectly soaked.

Halfway through their meal, the Sheriff joined them at the table to read the paper while Isaac and Stiles talked about their latest English assignment. Towards the end of their meal Isaac’s phone went off beside him. It was a text from Derek that said **_“I’m in the area, do you need to be picked up?”_**

“Who’s that?” Stiles asked.

“Derek, he’s asking if I want a ride.”

“I can take you home,” Stiles offered.

“You don’t need to.”

“No, it’s fine, I am totally down for driving you home. It’ll give me an excuse to avoid my homework.”

“But he’s already in the area. Don’t waste gas,” Isaac reasoned. “I appreciate it, but Derek can just pick me up.” Isaac texted Derek back with a yes.

“I’ll pick you up in 15.” was Derek’s reply.

“I’m going to grab my stuff,” Isaac said. Isaac ran upstairs, leaving Stiles and his dad.

Stiles wrapped up the remaining pancakes and put them in the fridge then proceeded to wash off the plates and forks and put them in the dishwasher. When he turned around his dad was giving him a look.

“What?”

“You know what.”

“Dad, I seriously don’t.”

“You like Isaac.”

Stiles let out a scandalized noise. “Where the hell would you come up with that idea? Ya know, Dad, I can like guys and have friends that are guys. Take Scott for example.”

“Scott doesn’t count.”

“He can grow a better beard than a mountain man, I’m pretty sure he counts as a guy.”

“Yeah, but he’s practically your brother,”

“That doesn’t make a difference. I do not like Isaac.”

“The way you two were sleeping together this morning says otherwise.”

“Now you’re just messing with me, and I’m going to ignore you.”

A minute later Isaac came downstairs with his backpack slung onto his shoulder. “Derek’s here,” he said.

“Great, I’ll see you on Monday then,” Stiles said abruptly. His gaze flicked from his dad to Isaac and smiled a little awkwardly.

“Yeah. Thanks for having me over, Mr. Stilinski,” Isaac said.

“Great to see you, Isaac, and feel free to call me John.”

“Okay, well bye.” Isaac headed towards the front door then stopped at the kitchen entrance and said “Oh, and Stiles, I left your clothes on your bed folded up.”

“Oh, thanks!”

And with that, Isaac exited the house.

“You let him borrow your clothes,” the Sheriff said, a smug expression on his face.

“Don’t make me bring up how awkward you are around Melissa. I’m not blind, Scott and I know what’s going on.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the Sheriff replied cooly beginning to read his paper again.

“Sure you don’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow I move in to my dorm room and I'm super excited.


	12. Chapter 12

“Hey, Stiles wait up!” Isaac yelled when he spotted the boy hopping out of his Jeep, but Stiles didn’t turn at the sound of Isaac’s voice. “Stiles!” Isaac called again. He had almost caught up with him but he still hadn’t turned around. Isaac finally managed to catch up and tapped him on the shoulder. Stiles jerked and turned to see Isaac. “Hey, I was calling your name.”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t hear you,” Stiles replied.

“You okay? You seem a little spacey,” Isaac asked.

“I’m fine, I was just up late last night so I didn’t get that much sleep.”

“That sucks man, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, It was the homework, it got the better of me.”

“What did you think about that English homework? I couldn’t figure out what the poet was trying to say. I really don’t think poems are my forte.”

“It was alright for me.”

They entered the school and headed towards their lockers.

“We should do the homework together next time,” Isaac suggests.

“Yeah, we should. Sorry I have to go talk to my Chemistry teacher about a project, I’ll see you at lunch.” With that Stiles rushed off down the hallway.

Isaac walked slowly to his locker, perplexed by Stiles’ attitude. He had been oddly short with Isaac and Isaac wondered if he had done something wrong. They didn’t really see or talk to each other after Saturday morning, they texted a bit but Stiles kept it as brief as possible.

“Hey Isaac!” Scott said, coming up to him as Isaac was shoving his jacket into his locker.

“Hey Scott.”

“How was your weekend?” Scott asked.

“Good, Stiles and I watched movies and stuff Friday then I slept over. How was your weekly date with Allison?”

“Good, we drove all the way to the beach and had dinner and went for a late night swim.”

“Sounds very romantic.”

“Ohh yeah, so what did you Stiles watch?”

“Lord of the Rings, although we never finished the third one.”

“Did he make you watch the extended edition?”

“Yeah,”

“Yeah, he tried to get me to watch them once.”

“Scott, do you know if Stiles is mad at me?” Isaac asked suddenly.

“Why would he be?”

“I have no idea, he just hasn’t really talked to me since Saturday, I was talking to him just now but he told me he had to talk to one of his teachers and ran off.”

“Sometimes he gets weird like that when he has something on his mind. Don’t worry about it, he’ll be fine by lunch.”

Then lunch came and Stiles was no different. Instead of taking his usual place beside Isaac, he stole Allison’s seat on Scott’s right and avoided any of Isaac’s attempts at catching his gaze while he adamantly talked to Danny about the upcoming lacrosse season in several months. Isaac just listened to Allison talk about her latest hunting trip with her father.

Isaac was the first one to Ms. Blake’s English class. He took his usual seat and watched the door like a hawk, waiting for Stiles to walk in. He was the last one to show up, and took his regular seat beside Isaac but looked resolutely ahead, concentrating too hard on what Ms. Blake was writing on the board.

“Hey, Stiles,” Isaac whispered.

Stiles didn’t respond so Isaac repeated “Hey, Stiles!” a little more forcefully.

Stiles turned and said “what?”

“Are you okay, dude?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

Isaac gave him an appalled look. “You have been ignoring me all fucking day!”

“Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind,” Stiles replied.

“Alright class!” Ms. Blake called when she finished writing on the board. “We’re going to begin talking about iambic pentameter today,” and with that Isaac and Stiles’ conversation was cut off.

The moment class ended Stiles jumped out of his chair with Isaac just behind him. “Why the fuck do you keep following me?” Stiles asked as he opened his locker.

“Because you keep avoiding me. Are you mad at me?” Isaac replied.

“No, I’m not!” Stiles replied, angrily.

“You just haven’t talked to me since Saturday morning and last time you did, you seemed fine then all day today you ignored me. What did you expect me to think?”

“That I had other things on my mind. Just because we’re friends now does not mean I’m gonna talk to you all the time. Stop being so fucking needy. Now if you don’t mind I have to go home and do this stupid fucking homework Ms. Blake assigned us.” Stiles slammed his locker shut then shouldered past Isaac, leaving him staring there in slight shock.

**~~~**

The moment the words left Stiles’ mouth, he regretted them. He knew it was cruel but he didn’t want to be around Isaac right then and he knew that’s how he could get rid of him for the moment. Stiles didn’t know what to do after snapping so he did the worst thing possible and left Isaac standing there, looking like he had just been punched in the gut.

Isaac was confusing him. That wasn’t Isaac’s fault, he wasn’t trying to. Stiles just couldn’t figure out his feelings. He could easily blame this on his father, he was the one who made Stiles question his feelings over Isaac after all.

Stiles doesn’t have many close friends, Scott is basically his only one. Lydia and Allison could be counted as close friends but Allison will always be his best friend’s girlfriend and Lydia is still the girl who’s out of his league in every sense of the phrase, and he thought that Isaac could be his other second great friend, next to Scott. But instead this potential bromance turned into a potential crush.

When he got home his dad was sitting in the dining room looking over paperwork.

“Hey Stiles!” he called.

“Hey Dad!” Stiles replied with as much casualty as he could muster, then bounded up the stairs to his room. He shut his bedroom door and flung himself onto the bed. “You done fucked up, Stilinski,” he said to himself.

~~~

Isaac had planned on getting a ride home from Stiles but since Stiles told him loud and clear that he didn’t want Isaac around, Isaac had to walk home. He began his trek back to the loft but halfway there he heard a honk. For a split second Isaac thought it was Stiles coming back to apologize and drive him the rest of the way but instead it was Allison. She pulled up beside Isaac where he had stopped and Scott, who was sitting in the passenger seat, rolled down the window.

“Why are you walking? I thought Stiles was gonna give you a ride?” Scott asked.

“He said he wasn’t able to today,” Isaac lied.

“Well do you want a ride the rest of the way?” Allison asked Isaac.

After thinking it over for a minute Isaac nodded and got into the backseat and Allison continued to drive.

“So what happened with Stiles today?” Scott asked.

“What do you mean?” Isaac asked warily.

“Was he actually pissed at you?”

“Seems like it,” Isaac answered.

“About what?” Scott asked him.

Allison hit him. “It’s none of you business, Scott.”

“What! They’re both of my friends, they’re fighting. I want to see if I can help,” Scott defended himself.

“Well I have no idea why he’s mad at me,” Isaac answered Scott, and the rest of the drive was silent save for the radio that was playing softly in the background.

Derek wasn’t home when he got back and he was thankful. He grabbed a banana from the kitchen then went straight into his room. All he could keep thinking was “what did I do wrong?” A small voice in Isaac’s head replied “nothing,” but Isaac knew that couldn’t be right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for my absence, I was busy adjusting to college. I hope to be updating a little more frequently at this point.


	13. Chapter 13

Stiles was having a starting contest with his Calculus homework. He couldn’t for the life of him concentrate on the problems. It took him half an hour to finish the first problem because his mind kept drifting back to Isaac. Stiles let his head fall onto his desk with a _thunk_ and groaned in defeat. He grabbed his phone and opened up a blank text. “hi” he typed in, then immediately deleted it. He then texted “can we talk.” but that didn’t sound right either.

“Fuck this.”

He exited the text screen and pulled up his contacts pressing number 3 for speed dial. The phone rang three times before he picked up.

“Hello.”

“Hey Scott, can I talk to you about something?”

“Sure dude, what’s up,” Scott answered.

“I got stupidly annoyed at Isaac today for no reason,” Stiles told him.

“Yeah, I know.”

“You do?”

“He told me,” Scott explained,

“Oh, well. I feel bad,” Stiles said, but his sentence didn’t sound quite finished.

“Okay…and?”

“And I want to say sorry,” Stiles stated.

“Then why don’t you tell him that?”

“I can’t. I don’t know how.”

“You just say, ‘Isaac, I’m sorry I was a dick to you.’”

“That’s it?”

“Pretty much.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Stiles said.

“Yes you can,” Scott encouraged.

“You never fail to always see the good in people, Scott.”

“People say it’s my shining feature,” Scott replied. “So was there anything else?”

Stiles thought for a moment. He considered telling Scott about his possible crush on Isaac, but then thought that there was no point to it. “Nope, just needed to get that off my mind.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow, dude.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

****  
  


Stiles didn’t pick up Scott or Isaac for school the next day. Both had said that they were getting rides from other people. When Stiles got to school he parked in his usual spot and jumped out of the jeep. He shivered slightly as the wind swept through his open jacket. California rarely got below 40 degrees, even in the dead of winter but today there was a bite to the wind that swept across the school parking lot. Stiles zipped up his jacket and buried his nose into the collar. Once inside the school he headed straight for Isaac’s locker.

Isaac was stuffing notebooks into his backpack when Stiles showed up.

“Hey Isaac,” Stiles started, flashing a smile at Isaac.

“Hey,” Isaac replied.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Uhh yeah, sure,” Isaac closed his locker then zipped up his backpack, swinging it over his shoulder.

“I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for being a dick yesterday.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Isaac replied.

“No, I’m serious. I was mean and said some stupid shit that I didn’t mean. Also it’s really fucking hard for me to apologize, I am not the apologizing type.”

“Oh, so I should feel honored,” Isaac deadpanned as they began to walk down the hallway together.

That stopped Stiles in his tracks and he froze.

After a moment Isaac’s steely stare broke and he smiled. “Relax, Stiles. I forgive you, it’s fine. Seriously. I’ll probably be a dick to you too at some point.” Isaac slung his arm around Stiles shoulder as he said that while they walked down the hallway.

The contact automatically made Stiles’ stomach do a flip and he inwardly groaned and gritted his teeth. Stiles’ feelings could go fuck themselves (or preferably Isaac.) Stiles visibly shook his head at this thought.

“You okay there?” Isaac asked.

“What? Yeah, I’m good, just a twitch.”

“You’re weird man.”

“A lot of people tell me that.”

“Hey, so do you want to work on our English homework today, after school?” Isaac asked. “You can come to my place today, instead of me going to yours.”

Stiles thought about it for a minute, then said, “yeah, sure”

“Great, I’ll see you in English,” Isaac said, then he walked off towards his first period class.

A piece of paper floated out of Stiles’ locker when he went to grab his stuff. It was pink and in big letters at the top it said “LYDIA MARTIN’S ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY!” and below it read: “ _You are invited to Lydia’s house on the 31st of October, 2015 with a plus one!_ ”  It listed her address and at the bottom of the page Lydia had scrawled her name and “love you” at the bottom. Stiles smiled at the paper and stuffed it into his bag.

There was more hustle and bustle in Ms. Blake’s class that day, word had gotten around about Lydia’s party. Lydia’s parties were famous around the BHHS community, she always threw the best parties.

“What is everyone talking about?” Isaac asked Stiles as he took seat next to Isaac.

“Lydia’s Halloween party.”

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a party.”

“Yeah but Lydia’s parties are legendary. She once had one at her lake house on a long weekend.”

“What happened? Did the place get trashed or something?”

“Nope, that’s why they’re so phenomenal. Lydia’s parties are never busted because people know that if they trash her house or get the cops called, Lydia will murder them, so you get all the great stuff of a party but none of that trashy shit. Plus, the alcohol is great,” Stiles explained.

Isaac nodded as if he understood, but he didn’t. He had never been to a party but he’d seen Cam go out to them. He would always come back reeking of beer and weed, sneaking in at 2 in the morning, sometimes with a girl in tow. Cam always got away with stuff because their dad didn’t give a damn. He was never pulled out of school because unlike Isaac, Cam was their dad’s favorite. He was an athlete and popular and lived up to his father’s expectations. Unlike Isaac who was awkward and quiet and preferred to read a book rather than play lacrosse or swim.

The bell rang which ended their conversation and the class fell into order.

“So what do you want to work on?” Stiles asked as they exited the school. “We could either start writing our own poems first or analyze the poem Ms. Blake gave us.”

“Analyze, I guess. I have no idea how to write a damn poem,” Isaac said.

“Okay, we can do that first.” They got into the Jeep and drove to Derek’s loft. “I’ve only ever seen the outside of this building,” Stiles stated when they arrived at the loft.

“It’s not that exciting, kind of bare actually. Derek’s a bit of a minimalist,” Isaac replied.

They got inside and took the elevator up to the top floor. “So you guys have the penthouse, nice,” Stiles remarked.

“It’s a fucking loft Stiles, Derek owns the whole building.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he has people lease the floors below.”

“Cool.”

“Derek’s probably not home yet, he doesn't get in until about 6,” Isaac said when they reached the loft. He unlocked the front door and toed off his shoes by the door, Stiles following suit.

“Sooo where do you sleep?” Stiles asked after taking in the open space that contained only a couch, a tv, and a king sized bed in the corner.

“Upstairs.” Isaac pointed to the short spiral staircase. “We can do our homework down here, but do you wanna see it?”

“You trying to get me into your bed already, Lahey? I’m more of a sleep with them after the 3rd date kind of guy,” Stiles joked, the moment the joke slipped from his mouth he regretted it, it was too flirtatious for a friendship.

Isaac gave him a critical look and said, “Stiles, I don’t think you can even get past the pining stage of any relationship.”

“That really hurts me, Isaac. It’s like you don’t think I’m attractive.” Stiles was in dangerous waters now and he knew it, he just prayed that Isaac wouldn’t get suspicious and be weirded out that Stiles has a crush on him.

“Your looks have nothing to do with it, it’s just the fact that you can’t keep your damn mouth shut,” Isaac said. He was sitting on the couch cross legged with a smug expression on his face. “Now can we start this homework or not?”

Stiles came to sit across from him on the couch, mirroring his poster with his legs crossed and his English binder in his lap.

“So why don’t we read this silently first and see what we can come up with about what it means and all that rhetorical shit then compare notes.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

They sat in silence for several minutes doing their work. Stiles was extremely aware of how close Isaac was. He could easily lean forward and kiss Isaac. He had a quick vision of himself doing it. Stiles let out a big sigh, he was in deep and he had no idea how he got there.

“You okay?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“You sighed.”

“Oh, nothing just this work sucks.”

“No arguments there,” Isaac replied, and he went back to annotating.

Stiles suddenly thought of the “plus one” on Lydia’s invitation and thought if Isaac got one. It’s not as if Lydia’s parties were exclusive, everyone went whether they got an invitation or not. But knowing Isaac he probably wouldn’t go unless explicitly invited. “Hey Isaac, do you want to go to Lydia’s party with me?” Stiles asked before he could stop himself.

Isaac looked up from his work. “Am I allowed to?”

“Yeah, of course, Lydia does invitations as a formality, everyone goes whether they got an invitation or not.”

“Uh, yeah sure, that sounds like fun. When?”

“In a couple of weeks, on Halloween night.”

“Okay, great.”

Both boys went back to their work with smiles on their faces.

Stiles left the loft just as Derek arrived, he waved at Derek as they met at the doorway.

“Stiles came over to do homework,” Isaac explained before Derek had time to ask. “I’m just going to walk him out.”

“You don’t have to come all the way down with me,” Stiles said.

“You walked me out of yours, so I’m gonna return the favor,” Isaac said.

He walked Stiles all the way to his car waved goodbye as he drove out of the parking lot then went back to the loft.

“So you and Stiles seem close,” Derek commented when Isaac returned.

“Yeah, I guess. Hey, is it okay if I go to a party on Halloween? Stiles invited me.”

“Sure, just don’t do anything that will get you into trouble,” Derek replied.

“I won’t.”

“Is it going to be a date?” Derek asked

Isaac gave him a shocked look. “What gave you that idea?!”

“Just from what I’ve seen from you guys. Seems like you like each other.”

“Well, no it’s not. Just going as friends.”

“Okay.” But Derek did not seem satisfied, and he had a knowing smile on his face. Isaac chose to ignore it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO sorry I haven't been updating! College has begun to be a cycle of work, class and sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

“So what am I supposed to wear at this party tonight?” Isaac asked Stiles. They were sitting in English class among the chatter of the other students. There was a sub today so no work was getting done. Isaac had his head laying on his desk, using his arms as his pillow while Stiles was busy doodling all over his notebook paper.

“I don’t know, whatever you feel confident in. It’s not a costume party so it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, okay,” Isaac said blushing lightly.

“What you’re wearing looks good,” Stiles told him.

Isaac looked down at his jeans and plain white t shirt. “It’s nothing that special.”

“Yeah, but you pull it off. You might want to lose the scarf though.”

“It’s cold out!” Isaac defended.

“Yeah, but they look funny.”

“You just told me I looked nice.”

“Well, you always look nice Lahey. I think you were born to be a model.”

Isaac’s face turned red again and muttered a “thanks.”

“At least you have me to tell you that. I didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to wear a costume the first time Lydia invited me and she still won’t let me live it down,” Stiles told him.

“What did you dress up as?” Isaac asked.

Stiles’ face became bright red and he mumbled something unintelligible.

“What was that?”

“A wookie.”

“A what?”

“Seriously, dude? You haven’t seen Star Wars either? I am surrounding myself with uncultured swine!”

“Stop insulting my lack of pop culture references and just tell me what it is!” Isaac said.

“It’s a species from Star Wars, really tall, and hairy, the name that’s usually paired with it is Chewbacca.”

“Bless you?”

“I didn’t sneeze, that’s the character’s name. Well anyway they look like really tall dogs on two legs with really long silky looking hair. No one really got the joke and they all laughed at me and I felt like Cady Heron from Mean Girls,” Stiles explained.

“You really have to stop making movie references, Stiles. I don’t understand them at all, you have to show me these movies first,” Isaac told him.

The bell rang for the end of class.

“Finally, thank god,” Stiles muttered. “So I got roped into helping Lydia set up. Do you want to come with me or do you want to just meet me at the party?”

“I’ll come with you, I guess. What about Allison and Scott?”

“Allison is helping set up too, but Scott has to work until six. Deaton never lets him off early no matter what, not that Scott would want to leave early. He’s surrounded by puppies and kittens, who wouldn’t want to stay there as long as possible?”

They dropped off their school stuff at their houses and then left for Lydia’s. Allison and Lydia had most of the decorations set up by the time they got there.

Lydia didn’t use tacky halloween decorations, though. Her house looked like it would be on a Pinterest page if you had searched “chic halloween party.” It was minimalistic but just enough to set the theme.

About half past 5 Lydia left to get her party dress on, dragging Allison up with her and left Isaac and Stiles in her living room alone.

Stiles sprawled out on the couch, feet up on the arm of it. He looked at Isaac who was sitting in the lounge chair opposite him, looking very uncomfortable.

“Have you ever been to a party before?” Stiles asked.

“Besides the one that Scott dragged me to at the beginning of the year, no.”

“You think you’re gonna drink?” Stiles asked him, motioning towards the expensive beer and liquor that was attractively placed across the counter in the kitchen next door.

“Maybe, I’m not really sure about this whole party thing. I don’t know if it’ll be to my taste.”

“Well I guess we’ll have to find out,” Stiles stated.

Lydia and Allison came down the stairs,  Lydia hit Stiles’ ankles and he moved his feet off the couch and she took their place, Allison just leaned against the doorway.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“Let’s get the festivities going, boys,” Lydia said to them before answering the door.

**~~~**

“Excuse me! Coming through!”  Stiles yelled through the crowd. He was dragging Isaac through a particularly dense room, currently in search of Scott who had supposedly shown up almost two hours ago. There were so many people here that they hadn’t run into him yet, and Allison had disappeared which probably meant they were on their own together. Stiles was tipsy and felt like gate crashing a make out session, and he was bringing Isaac along for the ride.

Stiles spotted a flash of bouncy strawberry blonde curls “LYDIA!” he shouted across the hall.

She turned to look at him.

“Have you seen Scott?!” he yelled at her.

“Last time I saw him, Allison was dragging him to the basement!”

“Basement it is, then,” Stiles told Isaac.

“Why are we in such a rush to find Scott?” Isaac asked. Isaac hadn’t had anything to drink yet, he had denied any drink offered to him. He could be around drunk teenagers, but he just couldn’t get himself to drink it. He had seen what it did to his dad and he didn’t want to become that.

“Because Isaac, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal, I miss Scotty. He is my Latin lover and I want to see if he’ll help me beat Danny and Jackson in some beer pong. Now, come on!” Stiles grabbed Isaac’s hand again and dragged him down the stairs to the basement. He caught sight of Scott at the opposite end of the room, dancing with Allison.

“SCOTTY!!” Stiles yelled.

Scott looked up and smiled broadly at Stiles and Isaac, and waved enthusiastically. Allison turned to where he was looking and waved at them, motioning them to come towards them. The four of them met halfway.

“Scotty! Jackson has challenged you and me, well me but by extension you, to a game of beer pong with him and Danny and I want to kick Jackson’s ass!”

“Why doesn’t Isaac play with you?”

“I’m not drinking,” Isaac told Scott.

“Come on, Scotty!” Stiles pleaded.

“Let’s go beat em!”

Stiles and Scott rushed up the stairs leaving Isaac and Allison behind.

“How you doing tonight, Isaac?” Allison asked.

“Pretty good I guess. Never been to a party, kind of insane,” he answered.

“Did Stiles invite you?” She asked.

“Yeah,”

“Are you guys dating then?”

“No! Why does everyone think that.”

“Because that’s what it looks like,” Allison told him. “It’s totally cool if you are. Scott would probably be really happy to be honest, he’s been trying to set you guys up since school started.”

“He’s been trying to what?”

“Set you guys up, he thinks you guys would be good together. I agree with him to be honest, you and Stiles would make a very good couple.”

“Well, tell Scott to stop, Stiles and I are just friends.”

“Those red cheeks of yours are telling a different story.”

Allison then walked off with a smirk, heading up the steps and leaving Isaac with a shocked expression. After a moment he realized there was no one he knew here so he followed her up.

Isaac headed towards the back door where he heard cheering. He found Stiles and Scott around the corner at the side of the house where a ping pong table had been set up. Isaac joined the crowd that was surrounding the table, and began to watch. He had no idea how beer pong was played, but from watching, what he gathered was that if you get the ping pong ball in one of the cups then that team had to drink the cup.  It looked to be a close game, both teams visibly more drunk than they were before the game started. Stiles was swaying a little bit on his feet but his speech seemed to be clear from what Isaac could hear. Eventually it came down to each team with one cup. A hush fell over the crowd. Isaac watched with baited breath as Stiles concentrated to take the shot at Jackson and Danny’s cup. After several minutes of deliberation he tossed the ball and it landed in the cup. A cheer echoed through the group, Scott and Stiles cheering the loudest and hugging each other tightly. “We beat them Scotty!!!! We actually beat them!!! Fuck yeah!!”

Scott just laughed along with him and hugged him.

Isaac watched the two of them walk away from the table in victory. Stiles caught sight of Isaac and waved enthusiastically, almost slapping someone in the head. “Isaac! Did you see the win!”

“Yeah, I did!”

“It was awesome!!”

Stiles had his arm around Scott and seemed to be using him as partial support. He swung his other around around Isaac and distributed some of his weight to Isaac’s shoulder, making him stoop a bit. The trio continued to walk back into the house.

“Oh look! Allison!” Scott said. “I have to go tell her about the victory, see you guys later!”

“Bye Scotty!” Stiles yelled, then turned to Isaac and said, “let’s go upstairs, I’m not enjoying this clamor.”

Stiles stumbled up the stairs with Isaac behind him, waiting to catch him in case he were to fall backwards. Stiles led Isaac to a bedroom, and he tried to open it but it was locked. “Never fear, I know where the hidden key is!”

‘If it’s locked doesn’t that mean someone is in there?” Isaac asked.

“Nope, no one knows where this key is, except for me!” Stiles told him.

He looked under the potted plant that stood beside the door and after a little groping, he found what he was looking for. It took Stiles a couple tries to get the key in the door but eventually he got it and unlocked it. He immediately collapsed onto the queen sized bed that inhabited this room. Isaac closed the door behind him and joined Stiles on the bed.

Stiles was laying on his stomach but when Isaac sat down and leaned against the pillows with his legs stretched out, he turned over and used Isaac’s legs as pillows

“Are you have a good night?” Stiles asked Isaac.

“Yeah,” Isaac replied.

“Are you sure?” Stiles’ eyes were a bit unfocused but they looked at Isaac with drunken concern.

“Yeah, it’s nice to hang out with you,”

“Is it really? I feel like all I’ve been doing is drinking and dragging you around.”

“I don’t mind that.” Isaac didn’t understand why he didn’t mind. In any other circumstances he would have left hours ago but with Stiles he liked it. Stiles made him feel more confident here.

“Okay, that’s good, because I really enjoy hanging out with you and stuff,” Stiles mumbled.

The two boys sat together for a long time, Stiles looked like was nodding off, still using Isaac’s leg as a pillow. “Wanna hear something kind of funny,” Stiles mumbled after a while.

“What?” Isaac asked.

“After we had that sleepover at my house, my dad said I had a crush on you.”

Isaac looked at him, surprised. Stiles’ eyes were still closed but the drunken smile that was adorning his face earlier had disappeared and been replaced by a worried expression.

“Wanna know something else?”  Stiles asked.

“Sure.”

Stiles opened his eyes and sat up to look at Isaac.

“I think he might have been right.”

Stiles was so close to Isaac now that Isaac could feel his breath ghosting his lips. He looked at Stiles’ eyes, not knowing what to do. Stiles’ eyes flitted between Isaac’s eyes and Isaac’s lips before he moved forward towards Isaac, normally barely even noticeable but in this small space any movements felt like a mile. Isaac finally broke his staring contest with Stiles and his eyes looked down at Stiles’ lips fleetingly. They were thin and pale, pursed slightly and Isaac absently wondered if they were always like that or if Stiles was thinking about kissing him right then. He looked back up into Stiles’ eyes and that’s when Stiles finally closed the distance between them and slotted his lips against Isaac’s.

Stiles tasted a lot like beer and liquor, but there was a hint of mint from the spearmint gum he had been chewing all day and a taste that Isaac could only describe as Stiles. Their lips didn’t move for a moment, as if Stiles was waiting for Isaac to respond. Isaac began to feel Stiles pull away, but he put his hand tentatively at the back of Stiles’ neck and kept him in place. Isaac didn’t know how to kiss, he had never kissed someone before, but he tried to move his lips they the way they were supposed to. Apparently it was the right thing to do because Stiles responded almost immediately.

Isaac soon realized that Stiles kissed like everything else he did; enthusiastically, his hands moved all over Isaac, from his face to his neck, down his chest. All the while they were still in their same slightly awkward position, with Isaac lying almost perpendicular to Stiles.

Isaac soon found courage to move his hand that was on Stiles neck and place it on his jaw while his other hand that was previously supporting himself to take the place of his first hand on the back of Stiles’ neck as he leaned forward.

Stiles pulled away for a moment and Isaac seemed to have made a noise because Stiles snorted and said “am I that good of a kisser, Lahey?” Stiles repositioned himself onto Isaac’s lap, straddling his sides and resumed kissing him with more fervor now, pressing downward more forcefully onto Isaac’s lips, making their teeth clack together. Isaac’s hands instinctively found their way to Stiles’ ass, pulling him forwards a bit and both boys groaned at the friction it caused between them.

Just then they heard the door creak open and someone saying, “shit! Sorry!” They both turned to the person in the doorway like a deer in the headlights. A short asian girl stood there. “So so sorry, I was just looking for a place for me and my girlfriend,” she motioned to the taller brown haired girl behind her who looked incredibly disinterested in what was going on in the bedroom. “But obviously, this is taken, by you guys. So I’m gonna go.” She closed the door on them, then yelled through it “stay safe!”

Without a word Isaac immediately pushed Stiles off of him and headed towards the door.

“Isaac, where are you going? It’s fine!” Stiles asked.

“I thought you said the door was locked!” Isaac exclaimed, looking at Stiles in panic.

“It doesn’t automatically lock!” he said, motioning towards the key he had tossed on the bedside table. “It doesn’t matter, Isaac. No one cares if there are two boys kissing in a bedroom at a party.”

“I have to go,” Isaac told him opening the bedroom door.

“Isaac! Wait!” Stiles jumped off the bed and got between Isaac and the door, shutting it behind him. “Just stay, it’s no big deal, I really like you okay!”

“You’re drunk, Stiles. You probably won’t remember this tomorrow!” Isaac told him.

“I’m not that drunk now, please stay with me. We can just sleep. I’m feeling kind of tired anyways and I told my dad I would probably be sleeping at Scott’s.”

“Derek’s expecting me.”

“He knows you’re at a party. He probably thinks you're drunk and doesn’t want you going home alone or have someone drive you home drunk. Stay here, it’s not a problem. Nothing has to happen anymore if you don’t want it, we’ll just sleep.”

After a few moments Isaac nodded and let Stiles lead him back to the bed. Stiles stripped off his jeans and Isaac followed suit, both of the boys slipping into the bed. Stiles immediately  sprawled all over Isaac, and practically manhandled Isaac’s arms around him, using Isaac’s shoulder as a pillow. “I hope this is okay,” he murmured.

Isaac nodded, ‘this was more than okay,’ he thought as he wrapped his arm lightly around Stiles’ torso, his panic ebbed away and in its place sleep swept in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written at 4 in the morning when my roommate and I pulled an all nighter. Apparently when I'm over tired I get ambitious and can write a lot! Tell me what you thought in the comments below if you so desire. See you guys soon, hopefully. :)


	15. Chapter 15

When Isaac woke up he was completely disoriented. He was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room with Stiles’ face smashed into Isaac’s bare back, spooning him from behind.

Isaac recalled what had happened between them the night before and it sent a thrill through his body. But Stiles was drunk. Predictably, Stiles would forget what happened last night, or just write it off as some sort of drunken escapade. With this thought, Isaac tried to pry Stiles’ hands out from around his waist. Stiles let out a soft noise, and Isaac froze. The moment he thought it was safe, he continued to slowly extricate himself from Stiles’ grip. Once he was free, he grabbed his pants from off the floor. He made sure he had his phone and keys then quietly exited the room, taking one last glance at Stiles, who was now spread eagle across the bed.

When Isaac came downstairs, he was met with Scott, Lydia, and Allison sitting at the counter, eating breakfast. They turned at the sound of Isaac’s shoes on the wood floor.

“How was your night, Isaac?” Lydia asked him with a smirk on her face.

“Fine,” Isaac replied.

“Where’s Stiles?” Allison asked, with an equally smug expression on her face.

“Upstairs,” Isaac answered her. He didn’t make eye contact with any of them and grabbed his jacket from the coat rack by the front door.

“Where are you going?” Scott asked Isaac.

“Home,”

“Why?”

“Homework, and Derek’s probably wondering where I am.”

“I can give you a ride,” Allison offered.

“No thanks, I’ll walk,” Isaac declined. “I’ll see you guys on Monday.” Isaac bolted from the scene.

He spent the rest of his weekend focused on his homework and dutifully ignoring Stiles’ texts and calls.

Isaac was grabbing books from his locker on Monday morning when someone almost slammed it closed on his fingers. Isaac looked over to see a furious Stiles.

“What the hell!” Isaac exclaimed

“What the fuck happened Saturday morning,” Stiles hissed.

“What are you talking about?”

“You. Fucking. Left. Me,” Stiles said, poking Isaac in the chest after every word. “That is an incredibly shitty thing to do!

“Stiles, calm down.”

“Fuck you, Lahey,” he sneered, then walked off back down the hallway.

Isaac watched him go, then turned back to open up his locker again.

“Is there trouble in paradise, Lahey?” a voice asked. Isaac looked over to see Jackson leaning against a locker a couple feet down from his.

“Fuck off, Jackson,” Isaac reopened his locker and got the rest of his stuff out.

“So you and Stilinski fuckin’ now? You leave him after a drunken one night stand? Harsh Lahey, and that’s coming from me.”

“I said, fuck off,” Isaac repeated then slammed his locker closed and followed Stiles’ path down the hallway to get to class (or maybe catch up with Stiles and talk to him if he still wanted.)

Isaac couldn’t focus in class all day. His mind kept drifting back to Saturday morning, when he left Stiles sleeping. In retrospect it was a stupid move. He imagined himself in Stiles’ situation and understood Stiles’ anger. So when English with Stiles came around, Isaac tried to apologize, but Stiles completely ignored him. All throughout class Isaac tried to grab his attention but Stiles stared resolutely ahead at whatever Ms. Blake was writing on the blackboard.

“Psst, Stiles. Look, I’m sorry about Saturday. I didn’t realize how stupid of an idea that was at the time. I just thought you would forget or regret it. Come on, can’t you just look at me, acknowledge my existence, I’ll even let you throw a punch at me after class.”

Stiles continued to ignore him.

“Fine, don’t accept my apology. We can just forget that kiss ever happened.”

Isaac turned back to copy the notes from the board down onto his notebook. He was just getting into the class discussion when Stiles whispered, “I don’t want to forget it, I may have been drunk but I never really do anything I regret. Well. Except for the one time where Scott said it was a good idea to piss in Mr. Harris’s flower boxes and I got caught by my dad. But that’s not the point. I actually like you. Which is fucking annoying because I can’t seem to have a friend without falling for them at some point. And you leaving told me you didn’t want anything with me.”

“So do you accept my apology?” Isaac asked.

“No,” Stiles answered.

“Stiles, do you have something you want to say to the whole class?” Ms. Blake asked.

“Just that I think sonnets are stupid, and we shouldn’t have to learn how to write them.” Stiles told her.

“Well, at least we know who won’t be the next Shakespeare,” Ms. Blake replied.

When the bell rang Isaac followed Stiles out of class.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“No,” Stiles replied. “You don’t like me, the kiss was stupid. End of story. Now if you’ll excuse me I have pre-lab report for Flower Box Piss teacher due tomorrow and I need to get it done.”

Stiles opened his locker grabbed his jacket then slammed it and walked resolutely out the door. Isaac continued to follow him.

“Stiles, it’s not like that. I just want to talk more about it.”

“Is that what Derek’s teaching you?” Stiles quipped, turning back to look at Isaac “That you can just talk all of your problems away, that if we just have a little feelings session all our little wounds will be healed. It didn’t work for you before, why should it work for you now?”

“Will you stop being such a dick to me and just listen!” Isaac said, catching his arm.

“Fuck off, Lahey,” Stiles wrenched his arm from Isaac’s grip and jumped into his jeep, but Isaac followed, climbing into the passenger seat.

“Get out of my car.”

“No, not until you talk to me.”

“Those ejector seats I asked for Christmas could really come in handy right now,” Stiles muttered to himself.

“I’m gonna follow you around all afternoon if I have to. But I am not giving up on this.” Isaac told him.

“You’re such a stubborn shit,” Stiles told him.

“Yeah, and so are you. Now get driving. I doubt you want to have a heart to heart in the high school parking lot.”

Stiles drove back to his house. When he parked in the Stilinski’s driveway, Isaac jumped out of the car, following Stiles to the door where he pulled out his keys.

“Could you hurry up? It’s chilly out here.”

In Isaac’s attempt to talk to Stiles, he had bypassed his own locker completely and didn’t grab his jacket that shielded him from the wind, leaving him in just a thin cotton t-shirt.

“Well, you better get used to it,” Stiles told him, then opened the door just a crack, slipped in and slammed the door in Isaac’s face before Isaac’s brain could completely comprehend what just happened.

“What the hell!!! Stiles, let me the fuck in!”

“Go home, Isaac and get over yourself. We’re not talking. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

Isaac jiggled the doorknob but Stiles had relocked it. “STILES!” But no one replied. Stiles had left him on the doorstep and locked the door on him.

Isaac waited on the stoop for half an hour before deciding that Stiles wasn’t going to open the door for him, so Isaac looked for another way in. He went around the back, but the back door was locked. Isaac felt like it might be a little weird if he went through one of the downstairs windows, a neighbor might call a cop on him and that would just be a whole other disaster. Isaac walked around to the side and saw Stiles’ light on in his room, there was a tree nearby that looked like it could be a good way into Stiles’ room.

“You are not climbing that tree, Lahey,” Isaac muttered to himself.

He turned around, considering that maybe it was time to go home. Stiles obviously didn’t want to talk and Isaac couldn’t do anything about it.

Isaac took another look at the tree.

“Nope,” he said out loud and continued walking. As he was about to round the corner to the front of the house, Isaac took one last look.

“Oh, fuck it,” he said. He slung his backpack securely around his shoulders, tightened it so it wouldn’t get snagged or fall off and walked back to the tree. He grabbed the lowest branch and pulled himself up on it. He continued to climb up the tree until he was almost level with Stiles’ window. He could see him working at his desk, head bent over a text book with a highlighter in his mouth and another in his hand. Isaac shimmied onto a branch that looked like it could hold him and got as close as he dared. He then reached the last few inches and tapped on Stiles’ window. Stiles visibly jumped and almost fell out of his chair. He looked at the window and his jaw dropped.

Isaac gave him a cheeky grin and mouthed ‘will you let me in now?’

Stiles stalked to the window and opened it up. “I have half a mind to push you off that branch, just to spite you.”

“Yeah but then I’d sue you and you’d have to pay the medical bills. Now will you let me in? I’m cold.”

“Fine,” Stiles finally relented. He grabbed onto Isaac’s forearms and hauled him through the window.

Isaac dropped onto the floor and set his backpack beside him.

“So what do you want to talk about?” Stiles said.

“Saturday.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. We kissed, I was drunk, it was a mistake, that’s it. Good talk, you can go home now!”

“It wasn’t a mistake. I thought it was. Thought maybe it was one of your drunken decisions and would regret it tomorrow, so to save us both from the embarrassment I left before we could confront each other.”

“Well that didn’t seem to work out, did it!”

“No,” Isaac said, “Look, I’m… not good at relationships. The only people I knew for a long time was just my brother and dad and they weren’t the nicest people to me, so I don’t remember what it’s like to have any sort of healthy relationship.”

Stiles scoffed and rolled his eyes, “you just want to blame fucking everything on your childhood trauma, don’t you.”

Stiles’ words made Isaac’s blood boil.

“Fuck you, Stilinski! I am fucking trying to work out whatever problem we have in our friendship and you throw my words back in my face. No one’s going to stick around for very long if you keep insulting fucking everyone’s problems. Maybe I should start doing that to you. Mock your little ticks you get because of your ADHD. Like your stupid fucking tapping that is the most annoying thing I have ever heard in my life, or the random info you just burst out in the middle of a conversation because you have nothing else to say but you just NEED to be heard!” Isaac was standing now, his voice filling up the whole room. “I don’t even know why I’m fucking trying right now! You cannot understand how fucking hard it is to have a crush on a boy after years of your father yelling about how _faggots deserve to die_ , and being terrified of your dad finding out you’re one of them and legitimately fearing for your life because you know that he will kill you if he finds out. So yes, I am blaming my problems on my _childhood trauma_ because if I don’t, I’ll blame it on myself and I’ve done that for too fucking long! So fuck you Stiles, for trying to throw my words back into my face. Fuck. You!” Isaac grabbed his bag from off the floor and thundered down the stairs.

“Wait! Isaac!” Stiles called after him, following him down.

“No, you do not get to add anything!” Isaac snarled, turning on his heel and pointing an accusatory finger at Stiles.

“Can you please listen to me?” Stiles asked.

“Why should I! I gave you a chance to talk and you shot it down.”

“Because...” Stiles’ voice trailed off, trying to think of a reason.

After several moments of silence Isaac said, “You don’t have a good reason, do you?” He turned back around and continued stomping towards the door.

“You’re right! I’m a dick,” Stiles called out after him. “Even to people I’m close with. Scott, you, Lydia, even my dad sometimes. It’s just a part of my personality, and I know that’s not an excuse and it gets me into a lot of trouble but what I said to you is shitty. Really shitty. You’re right, I don’t know what it’s like in your situation, and demeaning it is cruel.”

Isaac stopped, his back still turned, his hand on the front door’s doorknob.

“I fucked up today. I shouldn’t have been a dick to you, I was hurt and when my feelings are hurt, I try to make that person hurt too. If I could take what I said back, I would but I can’t. I crossed a line, and I don’t really think I can come back from it. I guess all I can say is, I’m sorry for what I said and none of what happened with your dad was your fault.”

After a moment of silence, Isaac simply said, “see you tomorrow,” and left the house. He didn’t look back but he thought he heard Stiles mutter “shit,” before he left and made the long trek back to Derek’s loft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about that angst fest! Although I hope you enjoyed the drama! :) Comment and tell me what you liked! Hope you all are having a good week.
> 
> Also! If you feel like following me on Tumblr my url is liamsdumbbar It's full of Teen Wolf and band stuff!


	16. Chapter 16

It had been several weeks since Stiles and Isaac’s fight. Since then, Isaac had completely avoided Stiles. He stopped sitting with their friends at lunch, opting to sit with a girl named Erica and her boyfriend, Boyd. He stole Greenburg’s seat in the first row of English. He would hang out with Scott sometimes, but since Scott usually meant Stiles, he eventually reduced that to a minimum as well.

“Why don’t you just talk to him?” Erica asked Isaac at lunch one day. She had informed him that Stiles was staring longingly in Isaac’s direction. He could feel Stiles’ gaze boring a hole into his back, but he refused to give in to the urge to turn around and stare back.

“If you heard what he said to me, Erica. You wouldn’t be saying that.” Isaac muttered.

“Yeah, but you’ve got to forgive him at some point!” She told him.

“No, I don’t. He’s given no reason for me to either. He hasn’t apologized or tried to make it up to me in any way.”

“Maybe you haven’t given him the chance.” Erica said.

“Let it go Erica,” Boyd told her.

“Yeah, listen to Boyd. Let it go.” Isaac said.

Erica just rolled her eyes at him. Erica was a bombshell, to say the least. She claimed that this wasn’t always what she looked like. As an underclassman she used to be awkward and dorky, but Isaac could not picture it. She terrified Isaac when he first met her. He accidentally spilled his water bottle all over their Chem lab when they were partnered together. Instead of blowing up at him which is what Isaac had expected, she had laughed and said no big deal, going to grab paper towels from the dispenser in the back of the class. After class she asked if he wanted to sit with her and Boyd at lunch since she noticed he usually headed to the library these days.

“So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?” Erica asked him.

“I have no idea, Derek hasn’t said anything about it,” Normally Isaac’s thanksgiving involved a tv dinner and hiding from his father.

“Well my parents decided that we are going to Mexico for break,” Erica said.

“I’m just having dinner with my family,” Boyd said.

“Take pictures of Mexico and fancy dining room tables for me,” Isaac replied dully.

“I’m sure Derek will have something planned,” Erica reassured him.

****  
  


Scott caught Isaac on his way out of school. He grabbed him and pulled him aside just outside of the school entrance.

“What’s up?” Isaac asked him.

“My mom and I wanted to invite you and Derek to Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t know if you have any plans, maybe it was presumptuous of us to think that you didn’t. But let me know, text me or call or something.”  Scott told him.

“I’ll ask Derek if we have any plans,”

“Great!” Scott beamed at him. He then bounded down the stairs to meet Stiles who was waiting for him by the Jeep. Stiles gave Isaac a small wave but Isaac didn’t return it, he just glared at Stiles until Scott had joined him at the Jeep. Isaac watched both of them jump into the Jeep and drive out of the school parking lot, he caught himself wanting to be in there with them off to play video games at one of their houses.

“What are we doing for Thanksgiving?” Isaac asked Derek at dinner that night.

“Uhh, I don’t know actually. Normally I either go visit my sister in New York, or spend my nights here,” Derek explained.

“Well the McCalls invited us to dinner,” Isaac told him, shifting his food around his plate.

“Do you wanna go?” Derek asked.

“Yeah, it would be fun.”

“Well I didn’t really have anything special planned so going over there sounds like a great idea.”

Isaac called the McCall landline after dinner and Melissa picked up.

“Hello, McCall residence!”

“Hey Melissa, it’s Isaac,”

“Hi Isaac! How are you?”

“I’m good, I was just calling to let you know that Derek and I would want to come for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Great! We’ll be happy to have you, the Stilinskis are coming as well,”

“Oh! Great!” Isaac feigned excitement even though his stomach tied itself into knots at this piece of news.

“Yeah, they usually bring dessert with them,” Melissa told him. “It’s a lot of fun, the more the merrier when it comes to Thanksgiving.”

“Yeah,” Isaac said absently “Well, see you then,” He said.

“Have a good night, and I can’t wait to see you at Thanksgiving.

“Yeah, you too!” Isaac replied then hung up.

“All set?” Derek asked him, walking into the kitchen.

“Yeah, all set,” Isaac told him, giving him a false smile.

Isaac caught Scott outside of the lunchroom the next day and pulled him aside.

“Hey Isaac!” Scott greeted him with his usual friendly grin.

“You didn’t tell me that Stiles and his dad would be at Thanksgiving dinner,” Isaac accused him.

The grin that was on Scott’s face slipped off and he replied, “I didn’t think it was that much of a problem.”

“You know Stiles and I are… are fighting!” Isaac snapped. “Why would you think I’d want to interact with him at all, let alone have dinner with him. Do you know what he said to me?”

“Yes, I do Isaac, and while I totally understand your anger, I also know Stiles’ side of it. I know that you blew up at him too, and that he has felt like shit ever since those words came out of his mouth. He’s been trying to find a way to apologize to you since it happened but you refuse to get within 10 feet of him!”

“So you thought you would take it into your own hands and try and make us make up?”

“No, I thought that I would invite my two best friends over for Thanksgiving dinner because I wanted to spend the holiday with both of them,” Scott retorted. “You don’t have to come Isaac, but I really, really want you to! I want to hang out with you again and yeah it would be great for you and Stiles to be friends again but if that’s too much for you then I’ll respect it, but it would at least be nice if two of the people I care about most in this world could at least be civil to each other.”

The warning bell rang out and the few kids besides Scott or Isaac that were left in the hallway rushed to class. Scott gave Isaac a pat on the shoulder then said, “I hope to see you at Thanksgiving. See you around.” Then he walked off to class, leaving Isaac standing there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! It's been forever since I've updated! I am so sorry about that! College and life in general just started moving a little too fast for me to keep up. Also thanks to everyone sending the love towards this fic even though my updating is erratic. I hope you guys continue to read and love this story as much as I do. :)


	17. Chapter 17

Thanksgiving Day arrived with much trepidation. Isaac woke up at noon and got dressed in a button down and a dark pair of jeans. He tried his best to tame the curly mop on his head but one side would not settle into a nice part. It was getting pretty long, Isaac thought and he really needed to get it cut soon. 

Derek was lounging on the couch talking on the phone when Isaac came down. “Yeah, Laur, I have plans for today. I promise not to hide out in my ‘man cave’.” There was a pause as the other end responded. “Isaac and I are going over to the McCalls for Thanksgiving dinner.”

Isaac preferred not to eavesdrop so he sat down on the opposite end of the couch of where Derek was, Derek gave him a smile as a sort of greeting and Isaac gave a tiny wave in response. After a moment he asked quietly“Is that your sister?”

Derek nodded in response then said into the phone “I’ve gotta go Laura, I’ll call you later tonight to talk to you, tell Peter I say hi and don’t try to stab him with a carving knife this year, please!” There was what sounded like violently fast chatter from Laura on the other end and Derek said “Laura, this is the season of family and thanksgiving, just be thankful that he lived.”

Isaac picked at a frayed thread in the blanket that was spread over the back of the couch and tried not to pay too much attention. He considered going back upstairs, but that might just make it awkward so he continued to sit on the couch and tried not to make eye contact with Derek.

“I gotta go Laura, I’ll talk to you later, send Dan and Cora my love. I’ll call after dinner, yeah, bye,” and he hung up. 

Isaac took that as his cue to look back at Derek, there was a moment of awkward silence then Isaac said “Your sister sounds intense.”

Derek laughed “Yeah Laura is kind of crazy. She might come down to visit sometime. She says she wants to meet you.”

Isaac must have had a panicked look on his face because Derek laughed again and said “She’ll probably spend it discrediting every parental power I have over you and reduce me to a laughing stock so don’t look so scared! Anyway, what time should we head over?”

“Melissa said we could come over anytime so if we could go now.”

“Alright.”

Both of them put shoes on and headed over to the McCalls.

 

Melissa wrapped Isaac in a tight hug when she opened the door. “It’s great to see you Sweetie, come on in! Scott and Stiles are in the back. You can just hang your coat by the door. The sheriff and I will be cooking for the next couple of hours. 

“I can help!” Isaac offered. 

“That’s very sweet, but we’ve got it, don’t worry. Go hang out with Scott and Stiles, I insist!” She practically pushed Isaac through the house and out the back door, then guided Derek to the kitchen to undoubtedly coerce him into helping prepare the meal.

**_I feel like I’ve entered the Lion’s Den._** Isaac texted to Erica.

Almost immediately she responded with **_Stop being so overdramatic. And don’t text me, my parents will kill me if they see that I’m texting internationally._**

**_You didn’t have to respond._** He texted back.

**_Go make things right with Stiles and we can Skype later and you can tell everything to Auntie Erica._ **

**_I hate you._ **

**_Lies. Bye now! :)_ **

Isaac pocketed his phone then looked around. Stiles and Scott were throwing a lacrosse ball back and forth, they hadn’t noticed Isaac’s presence yet and Isaac had half a mind to keep it that way and sit in the far corner of the patio where they couldn’t see him. But instead he took a deep breath and called out “hey guys!” Both of them stopped what they were doing and turned.

“Isaac!” Scott crowed, a grin covering his face “You came!”

“Yup,” was all Isaac said.

“Wanna come play?” Scott asked.

“Nah, I think I’ll just sit here, and watch.”

“Okay, well feel free to join us if you want,” Scott told him.

“Okay,” Isaac took a seat on the steps of the deck, Stiles smiled hopefully at him and waved.

Isaac waved back, and Stiles started grinning in satisfaction, he turned back and threw the ball straight at Scott who caught it in the net, inches from his face.

Melissa called the boys into the dining room for dinner at around 4 in the afternoon. Isaac stood up from his seat on the back porch steps, and walked inside, with Scott and Stiles following him, they threw their lacrosse sticks in a bin by the back door and raced each other into the dining room. Isaac felt a flash of jealousy. They had been doing this for years, this was tradition for them, Isaac was a new comer, he had never had a proper thanksgiving. He was the last to arrive in the kitchen and took the seat next to Derek, opposite Stiles. 

Isaac looked around, not really knowing what to expect. The sheriff sat at one end of the table with the Turkey in front of him and a carving knife in his hand. They all sat in silence and Isaac was about to ask “what now?” before Stiles said “Dad, stop trying to make it dramatic and cut the damn turkey. We’re starving here!”

“Don’t sass me when I have a carving knife in my hand.” Sheriff Stilinski reprimanded, brandishing the aforementioned carving knife. He began carving the turkey anyway, demanding people pass down their plates so he could each give them some.

“White or dark meat, Isaac?” There Sheriff asked him when Isaac handed him his plate.

“Uhh, either is fine,” Isaac told him.

“A little bit of both, then.” He put several pieces of Turkey on Isaac’s plate, then handed it back.

Scott and Stiles were already digging into the mashed potatoes and stuffing. Isaac gave himself a little bit of everything. “This is delicious,” Isaac commented.

“Thank you, Isaac. I think with the combined efforts of the Sheriff and I we make a pretty great Thanksgiving,” Melissa replied.

“You haven’t even had the best part yet,” The sheriff said. “Melissa’s pumpkin pie is spectacular.”

“I’ll make sure to keep enough room in my stomach for that,” Isaac replied.

Isaac and Stiles caught each other’s gaze several times throughout the meal. Each time Stiles would offer a small smile at Isaac, but never said anything directly to him. They would sometimes jump into a conversation the other was having with another person at the table, but for the most part they didn’t speak. Towards the end of dinner Scott’s phone went off.

“Scott, why do you have to have that on at the table?” Melissa asked him, exasperatedly.

“Sorry! I need it for work, we always get at least one call on Thanksgiving day because of idiots feeding their dogs turkey bones or something. I need to go.” 

He made to go before Melissa said “Have dessert at least first, Deaton won’t mind if you wait a bit.”

Scott sat back down, while Melissa went into the kitchen to plate the pie. Scott went after her to help.

Both soon came back carrying 6 plates between them and handed them out.

“How about we go around the table and say what we’re thankful for,” Melissa suggested. “Scott, you start.”

After what looked like some serious thought Scott said “I’m thankful that we have two more people at our table for dinner today.”

“Cheers,” Isaac said, raising his pumpkin pie filled fork in Scott’s direction.

Stiles went next, “I’m thankful that I’m finishing high school this year and will never have to go back again.”

Melissa went next, she was thankful that her friends and family were happy and healthy, then it was Isaac’s turn. He could say a lot of things like that he was thankful he no longer lived with his dad or that he had actual friends or that Derek took him in, but instead he just said “I’m thankful for having a week off from school.”

After that Isaac sort of checked out of the conversation, he finished his pie and sat back, listening to what Derek and the Sheriff were thankful for (Derek’s surviving family, and the fewest deaths of police officers this year. Probably because of the cougar that Allison’s dad finally took down in a town wide cougar hunt)

Once all plates had been scraped clean of pie Melissa announced “As tradition goes, adults cook, kids clean. So clean away.”

“Mom, I have to go Deaton is wondering where I am,” Scott insisted.

“Alright, go save the poor animal,” Melissa told him. “Sorry Isaac and Stiles, it’s just the two of you on kitchen duty.”

Isaac immediately got up and began clearing the table. He carried his and Melissa’s plates into the kitchen then came back to grab Scott’s and the Sheriff’s. “I got those!” Stiles exclaimed practically snatching the two plates from Isaac just as he picked them up. “You can start cleaning up the kitchen.”

“Right,” Isaac nodded at him then went back into the kitchen and began gathering up all the dirty dishes lying around on the counter. He put all of the extra food into tupperware and placed it in the fridge. By the time he had finished that Stiles was in the kitchen and was beginning to wash. Isaac took up his position next to him and began drying the dishes that Stiles handed him.

It was the first time that they were in a room alone. It was an awkward silence only broken by the slight clinking of dishes and the rush of water from the faucet. Isaac just continued to dry and stack, not looking at Stiles and trying to make sure they didn’t brush hands. 

After a while Stiles said: “So how have you been.”

“Fine,” was all Isaac said.

“I saw that you’re sitting with Boyd and Erica these days.”

“Yup.”

“They’re cool to be around,” Stiles tried again.

“Yup.”

There was more awkward silence as Isaac continued to dry the silverware and put it away.

The Sheriff had put on a movie in the family room that Isaac could hear bits and pieces of. Steve Martin’s voice drifted into the kitchen, Isaac tried listening so he could figure out the plot, but the silence in the kitchen was almost deafening, it kept distracting him. Occasionally he would hear Melissa, or Derek or the Sheriff laugh at some joke.

“So, I’m just gonna come out and ask it. Are you still angry at me?” Stiles asked suddenly.

“Yes,” Isaac immediately replied.

Stiles sighed heavily and asked “really?”

“Yes,” then after a moment Isaac faltered and said honestly “I don’t know.”

“Well how can you not know?”

“I don’t know!” Isaac said exasperated, throwing the drying towel down and looking at Stiles. “I’m still angry about what you said, but everyone keeps telling me that I need to forgive you and that I’m not giving you any sort of chance to apologize. So I want to hold on to my anger even though I know I shouldn’t.”

“Well for what it’s worth. I really am sorry for what I said. It was shitty. It was, beyond shitty and I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” then after another moment of silence Isaac continued “And I’m sorry for blowing up at you and saying shitty things in return.”

“Apology accepted,” Stiles said, smiling. So, Friends again?”

“Yeah,” Isaac replied, smiling back.

“Awesome! Let’s finish these dishes then go enjoy the movie,” Stiles said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this made me miss Thanksgiving. Once again thanks for all the love you're giving this story! It's awesome!


	18. Chapter 18

“Guys, we should do Secret Santa this year,” Scott announced at the lunch table one day.

Thanksgiving break was over and finals were fast approaching. These days, the lunchroom was emptier than normal with people opting to study in the library rather than socialize with friends.

“Excuse me for asking, but what the hell is secret santa?” Isaac asked.

“So what happens is, we each put our name down on a piece of paper then put it in a hat or something and then we pick a piece of paper out with a name on it without looking and whoever’s name is on that piece of paper you have to buy them a gift,” Erica explained, looking up from her Psychology notes.

Ever since Isaac and Stiles made up, Isaac had started sitting with “the pack” again, as Erica had begun calling them. When Isaac began sitting with them again, he had brought Boyd and Erica over with him. They fit in well. Erica had become close with Allison and Lydia after a few days of sizing each other up. They were a formidable force and Isaac was a little intimidated by the three of them joining forces.

“So, do you guys want to do it?” Scott asked. Everyone nodded.“Great! Let’s pick out names now, then we can do gift exchange the day after Christmas.”

“So you’re just going to assume I have no plans, then!” Stiles exclaimed.

“Stiles, you never have plans the day after Christmas,” Scott retorted.

“At least let me feel like I have some sort of life!” Stiles said.

Scott chose to ignore him and said, “alright, everyone put your name on a scrap of paper and we can pick names out of a hat. Does anyone have a hat we can use?”

“We can use my beanie,” Allison suggested, pulling the blue beanie off her head.

There was a rustling as everyone found a piece of paper to write their name on. Isaac ripped a strip out of his English notebook, wrote his name on it then folded it up and threw it into the beanie Scott was holding out.

When everyone had put their name in the hat, Scott began handing it around for people to pick names out of. When it got to Isaac, he looked away and fiddled around with several pieces of paper before picking one out.

Scrawled across it was

_**Stiles** _

“Ooh, I like mine!” Erica exclaimed.

“Erica, shut up,” Stiles said.

“Make me, Stilinski!”

She fixed him with a withering glare, and Stiles almost visibly shrank away from her. Pleased with his reaction, she turned to Allison and began chatting with her.

“So who did you get?” Stiles asked Isaac.

“I can’t tell you!” Isaac reprimanded him.

“Oh come on, you’re no fun,” Stiles teased.

“Stiles, you are not going to see what is on this piece of paper,” Isaac told him.

“I can steal that paper from you and you would never know!”

“Try it!”

Isaac shoved the piece of paper in his mouth. The bell rang and he stood up grabbing his bag from the floor.

“Bet you ten dollars you can’t swallow that,” Stiles challenged him.

Isaac spit the paper out and said, “no, I’m not swallowing this.” He ripped it into pieces and threw it in a nearby trash. The two of them began walking in the direction of their classes.

“So do you wanna study for the English exam after school today?” Stiles asked Isaac.

“Yeah, sure, wanna come by my place after school?”

“Yeah, definitely.”  They stopped in front of Stiles’ Calc class. “See you then.”

“Yeah, see ya!” Isaac continued onto his class.

**  
  
**

“So do you really want to study or do you just want to ‘study’?” Stiles asked Isaac as they walked to the Jeep. Adding air quotes to the last word.

“What the hell else are we going to do?” Isaac asked.

“Go bowling, take a walk, play video games, virtually anything other than study,” Stiles suggested, looking at Isaac desperately.

“No! We have to study for this Stiles,” Isaac insisted as he got into the Jeep’s passenger side.

“No, we don’t! Come on Isaac, don’t make me study!” Stiles pleaded getting into the driver’s side and starting the jeep.

“We are studying Stiles. At least I’m going to.”

Stiles huffed, “you’re no fun.”

Isaac didn’t reply as they drove out of the school parking lot.

It was only a ten minute drive to Isaac’s place, but Stiles managed to stretch it by driving 5 miles under the speed limit and insisting on stopping by the convenience store for sour gummy worms. Isaac threatened to hijack the Jeep and throw Stiles in the backseat when Stiles began deliberating between two different brands of gummy worms.

By the time they got to Isaac’s, school had been let out half an hour ago.

“Now that you have sufficiently wasted half an hour of my time, are you ready to study?” Isaac asked Stiles as he unlocked the door to the loft.

“No,” was all Stiles replied.

“Too bad.” Isaac ushered Stiles up the stairs to Isaac’s room and began unpacking all of his English work and the study guide Ms. Blake had handed out. Stiles followed suit- although begrudgingly.

“So do you want to outline the essay first or annotate the poems?” Isaac asked.

“Outlines. I fucking hate poetry,” Stiles said.

Isaac grabbed his laptop from his bed to open up a Word document and play some music. He put on some Of Monsters & Men in the background and the two boys set to work on the outline.

“Do you want to start the poems now?” Isaac asked Stiles after an hour or so of creating outlines.

They had to figure out the pattern of the poem and figure out it’s meaning. Ms. Blake had provided several poems to practice on.

“If we have to,” Stiles sighed.

Derek came home at 6 and poked his head in the room to see both boys glaring at the poems. “How’s the studying going?” Derek asked.

“Horrible,” Stiles muttered, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

“Stop being such a crybaby,” Isaac told him.

Stiles threw his pen at Isaac who dodged it.

“Well, I’ll leave you two at it then,” Derek said, and went back downstairs to make something for dinner.

“I don’t think I can do it anymore,” Stiles said, flopping backwards onto Isaac’s bed.

“We can stop,” Isaac told him.

“No, it’s fine,” Stiles said yawning widely.

“You sure?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, I have to be home soon anyway, so we might as well finish strong.”

“Okay.” Isaac went back to work.

There was another few minutes of silence where the two of them continued to study, until Isaac felt a weight fall into his side. He looked over to see Stiles’ head leaning against his shoulder, mouth open slightly. He had passed out. Isaac tried to push Stiles off of his shoulder, but instead Stiles’ head just slipped down into his lap. His body was contorted into a way that looked almost painful, but Isaac didn’t want to wake him up, so he just adjusted himself slightly and maneuvered his homework around Stiles with his head still in Isaac’s lap.

Isaac worked like that for a while, until Derek knocked on his door again. “Hey, just letting you know that dinner is ready.”

“Alright, I’ll be down in a minute,” Isaac replied.

“Is he staying for dinner?” Derek asked, pointing to Stiles, who had adjusted himself in a fetal position with one hand clutching the jeans on Isaac’s thigh.

“No, he’s heading home,” Isaac said, glancing down at Stiles.

“Alright.” Derek went back down to the kitchen.

Isaac looked down at Stiles again. He was using Isaac’s leg as a pillow. It was a solid, warm presence and Isaac found himself loving this. Isaac’s hand moved to Stiles’ head and slowly began stroking his hair. Stiles leaned into the touch, nuzzling the top of his head against Isaac’s hand, almost like a cat.

Stiles’ phone lit up and began buzzing against Isaac’s bedspread, the caller id said “Dad”. Isaac picked it up and answered.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Stiles?” The Sheriff asked.

“He is currently sleeping, this is Isaac.”

“Hey Isaac! Do you happen to know when Stiles will be home?”

“In a couple minutes,” Isaac answered.

“Alright, thanks kid,” the Sheriff replied. “I’ll talk to you later, Isaac.”

“Bye Sheriff Stilinski.

Isaac hung up and looked down again at Stiles. He sighed, then shook Stiles’ shoulder to wake him up.

“Huh, wha?” Stiles mumbled.

“You gotta wake up man. It’s time for you to leave.”

“Alright.” Stiles’ voice was a little sleep rough. He sat up and stretched, yawning loudly.

“You finish your shit?”

“Yeah,” Isaac replied.

“Isaac!” Derek called from the kitchen, “You coming?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute!” Isaac yelled back.

Stiles stuffed his notebooks into his backpack and shrugged on his hoodie.

“I might have to borrow your notes to study from,” Stiles said, a little sheepishly. “I’m sorry I was a pain in the ass.”

“Don’t worry about it, I got your back.” He punched Stiles’ shoulder slightly.

“What would I do without you?” Stiles said, looking at Isaac appreciatively.

“I don’t know, you have gotten this far.”

“Thanks to Scott, probably.”

The two of them walked down the spiral staircase, towards the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Isaac said, opening the door for him.

“Adios!” Stiles waved good bye, and Isaac closed the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, y'all! This chapter was rough to write I couldn't seem to get the words out that I wanted! But now it's up! Your comments make my day! :)


	19. Chapter 19

Isaac’s phone buzzed in his back pocket as he rushed around the loft, grabbing his jacket, backpack and an apple. He was sure it was from Stiles who was rushing him out the door. It was the first day of exams and Isaac was terrified. He had studied hard all week, but he still felt like he knew nothing.

His phone buzzed a second time as he was putting on his scarf. “Impatient fucker,” Isaac muttered to no one.

He rushed out of the loft and down the stairs to the Jeep.

The moment he got in, Stiles shoved a piece of paper into Isaac’s face “Look! Look at what came in the mail today!” He practically shouted.

Isaac took the paper from Stiles’ hands and skimmed it.

 

_Dear Mr. Stilinski,_

_Congratulations! We are excited to announce that you have been admitted to University of California, Berkley._

_Your admissions packet has been mailed and…_

 

“Holy shit!” Isaac exclaimed. “This is amazing Stiles!!”

“Thanks! At least I know one college will take me, even if I fail all of these exams!”

“I think every college will take you, Stiles.”

“Well they don’t get to have me because I have been accepted into my top school!” Stiles exclaimed. He drove the Jeep out of the parking lot and towards school. “So, have you gotten any acceptance letters yet?” Stiles asked.

“No, I haven’t applied anywhere,” Isaac replied. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of college before. A year ago he had accepted his fate of never going to college and just working at the cemetery with his dad for the rest of his life. But now that he was actually going to high school, and having a normal life, college could be an option for him. “Is it too late for me to apply to college?” Isaac asked anxiously.

“I don’t know, you can talk to the guidance counselor about it,” Stiles suggested.

“I just have no idea what I want to do.” 

They pulled into the school parking lot, next to Scott’s motorbike. Scott was waiting for them. Stiles grabbed his bag, and the letter, and rushed out of the car, brandishing the paper in Scott’s face.

Isaac’s original excitement over the prospect of college turned into fear. How was he supposed to pay for college? Would any place really accept him since he hadn’t had public schooling, until now, since the 7th grade? A small voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his father said: _“You’re too dumb to go to college.”_

_“shut up”_ Isaac told the little voice as he followed Scott and Stiles up the steps of the school.

_“You know it’s true, you’re only good for burying people.”_

_“Shut up!”_ Isaac insisted.

“Hey Isaac!” A voice to Isaac’s left called. It was Erica, she bounded over to him and immediately looped her arm through his. “You okay, bud?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Isaac mumbled trying to shake off his anxiety.

“You sure? You look a little troubled.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Isaac insisted.

“Hey Erica look!” Stiles called and showed her the acceptance letter as well.

Everyone parted ways when they entered the school. Scott and Isaac had their history exam this morning and walked to their testing room together.

“It’s pretty great about Stiles, huh?” Isaac said.

“Yeah, it’s great. UC Berkeley is like his dream school.”

“Do you have a dream school?” Isaac asked Scott.

“Not really, there’s a vet school in Palo Alto that I have my sights set on, but I don’t really care as long as I get into a college and learn what I love.”

The class was mostly filled when Scott and Isaac entered, they took two seats in the front row as the teacher began explaining how the finals were going to work.

 

When Isaac got back to the loft he dropped his bag by the door and kicked off his shoes. 

“Hey, how were finals?” Derek asked him when Isaac was getting a water bottle out of the fridge.

“Alright,” Isaac said, shrugging.

“Is everything okay?” Derek asked. He was sitting at the counter reading some book about world war 2.

Isaac had his back turned to Derek, now rummaging for some food to eat. When he found nothing he turned around and said “Am I going to go to college?” 

Derek’s eyes widened in surprise. “Well I don’t know, do you want to?” He asked Isaac.

“I don’t know! Everyone else is!”

“Isaac, just because everyone is going to college, doesn’t mean it’s cut out for you.” Derek said reassuringly. He had closed his book and was looking straight at Isaac, giving him his full attention. It was something that Derek did that made Isaac feel equally uncomfortable and cared about.

“I know that, it’s just…” Isaac paused and took a breath. “I thought that when I got away from my dad I would have a totally normal life. I’m going to high school, I have friends and people who care about me. I have a safe place to live. But there are so many things I missed out on! Like school sports, and ACTs and college preparation. I’m so behind on everything! I feel like I’m going to be behind for my whole life because my dad decided to fuck me up.”

“You’re not fucked up,” Derek replied immediately.

“Yes, I am!” Isaac cut him off. “Stop telling me I’m normal or fine! I’m not normal, I went through some shit that no one should ever have experienced! Don’t fucking lie to me and act like that didn’t affect me, because it did!! And now all of my friends are going off and moving on with their lives and I am stuck here with no direction because I was never given the option to have a future!” Isaac shouted at Derek.

There was a ringing silence in the kitchen area. Derek looked down at his book, then back up at Isaac. “I’m not saying that you’re ‘fine’ or ‘normal’ I’m not discrediting the trauma you went through. But I need you to know, that what happened to you doesn’t have to affect everything else for the rest of your life if you don’t let it. We can figure out a good plan that feels right for you. A lot of people don’t go to college straight away. Some people take a year off, some people just go to junior college for a bit, and others go straight into work if that’s what they want. There are so many more options than just going straight to college.”

Isaac placed his face in his palms. He could feel himself trembling slightly. “I’m just terrified,” Isaac admitted. “I never got a choice in what I wanted to do. My dad convinced me that I was a failure so there was no point in having a future other than staying with him.”

“I know, but that’s all in the past now. You have a choice in what you do now. Whether that’s college, or not college, or whatever else sounds good to you,” Derek told him. 

Isaac felt Derek’s hand on his arm, he looked up at Derek. “You can do anything you want, I’m here to support you and help you in any way I can.”

“Thanks,” Isaac said “That means a lot.” And he meant it.

“And hey! If you want to join a sports team I know that Finstock is always looking for new players in Lacrosse,” Derek suggested, grinning. “He’s quite a character.”

“So I’ve heard, Scott and Stiles have many a story about him."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I started this story because I really wanted Social Worker Derek! Then it turned it a giant Stisaac angst fest. Send your love however you want to!! See you babes later!


	20. Chapter 20

“We. Are. Motherfucking. Done with finals!!” Stiles crowed.

“We have finals at the end of next semester, Stiles,” Scott told him as they exited the building.

“Dude, don’t ruin my mood. It’s officially winter break. I have food to eat and presents to wrap and New Year’s to celebrate! Which, by the way, do we have plans for New Year’s?” Stiles asked as they walked towards the Jeep.

“Party at Lydia’s,” Scott replied. “Don’t forget, we have Secret Santa at my house the day after christmas too.”

“Right, I still have to get my present for that,” Stiles said.

They reached the Jeep and climbed in. The parking lot was practically empty and Stiles drove straight through parking spots to the exit, completely disregarding the designated pathways in the lot. “Are you getting something for Allison even though she’s not your person?”

“Yeah, of course. She’s my girlfriend,” Scott answered.

“Are you getting anything for anyone else?”

“No, why?”

“Just curious,” Stiles said.

“You getting Isaac, something?” Scott asked.

“No! Why? Should I?”

“Why would you?”

“I don’t know. You're the one who asked me!”

Scott smirked, and gave Stiles a knowing look.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Stiles asked.

“No reason…” Scott replied as he looked out the window. But he kept looking back at Stiles and almost laughing to himself. Stiles decided to ignore him.

Stiles dropped Scott off at his house, then drove to downtown Beacon Hills to do a little christmas shopping. Stiles was a horrible gift giver. He had nailed down his father and Scott years ago. They were easy and Stiles was hoping to have gotten Scott as his secret Santa, so he could save money and it wouldn’t be hard to find a present. But instead Stiles had gotten Allison. 

Stiles wandered around for a while before he happened upon a jewelry store. Jewelry always seemed safe and he _had_ heard Allison mention that she wanted a new pair of earrings recently. He walked into the store and wandered around a little. Most of the stuff was super expensive and Stiles was about to give up when he happened upon a small section of the shop with a little more affordable jewelry.

He browsed the small earring rack for a moment before finding a pair in his price range. They were small, silver studs shaped like arrows and Stiles knew Allison was going to love them. She had this love for archery and at least once a month she would go to the range with her father for some bonding.

He bought the earrings then went to go get presents for his dad and Scott.

By 5 in the evening Stiles had finished his shopping and left downtown with his purchases.

 

Stiles greeted his dad when he entered the house. The Sheriff was cooking dinner when he came in. “What’s in the bags?” he asked.

“Presents,” Stiles replied. grabbing a fork and twirled some spaghetti onto it from the pot.

“Hey! Wait 10 minutes, will ya? It’s almost ready,” The Sheriff said, slapping his hand. “And is there a present in there for me?” The sheriff tried to look in the bags but Stiles grabbed them before he had a chance to open them up.

“Yes there is, and you won’t be allowed to see it till Christmas Day.”

“Spoil sport,” the sheriff muttered.

Stiles just made a face at his dad before grabbing scissors and tape from the kitchen junk drawer. He also grabbed a roll of wrapping paper that they had in the back of their hall closet. He rushed up the stairs with the bags in hand and immediately closed his bedroom door behind him. He wrapped the little box Allison’s earrings were in, and also wrapped up the cook book he got for his dad. It was full of vegetarian recipes. Stiles figured that it was at least worth a shot rather than leave his dad to his own devices and have his cholesterol go through the roof. As a consolation present, because Stiles knew his dad was going to be disappointed about the book, he had gotten him a gift card to his favorite burger place in downtown Beacon Hills and a new wallet.

For Scott, Stiles had gotten a pair of fingerless motorcycle gloves. Stiles had mocked Scott when he’d gotten the bike, the summer before junior year, but if Scott was gonna ride a motor bike, he might as well look the part.

Stiles hid the three presents under his bed for the time being and went downstairs to help his dad with dinner.

 

Later that night, Stiles lay on his bed with his laptop, looking through some random Wikipedia pages. It’s what he did whenever he couldn’t sleep. Right now he was reading about magnetic nanoparticles, although he didn’t understand most of it, he was going to ask if Lydia knew anything about it later. 

His phone buzzed beside him alerting him to a text, he had been texting Scott earlier but Stiles doubted that it was him since he fell asleep hours ago. He looked at his phone and saw that it was Isaac who had texted him, all it said was **_“Hey”_**

Stiles check the time, it was just past 3 AM. His brow furrowed in confusion, why would Isaac be texting him at this time of night. **_“Hey, what are you doing up this late?”_** Stiles quickly texted back. He hit send and continued to read his article. 

His phone buzzed again, Stiles opened the phone to see Isaac’s answer **_“Nightmare”_** was all it said.

**_“Shit dude, that sucks :/”_** Stiles mentally kicked himself after he hit send. What kind of response was that?

**_“Yeah, tell me about it”_ **

**_“Wanna talk about it?”_** Stiles asked.

**_“Not much to talk about. Just the usual. My dad.”_** Isaac answered.

All Stiles could think to say was: ** _“I’m sorry”_**

**_“Ehh, it’s fine. What are you doing up this late?”_** It was clear that Isaac didn’t want to talk to him about the dream so Stiles just let it go.

**_“Can’t sleep”_** Stiles sent back. He began clicking through other random wikipedia articles.

**_“That sucks”_ **

**_“Only a little. Sometimes I get a lot of work done if this happens”_ **

**_“So are you getting a lot of work done then?”_ **

**_“There’s no work to get done so I’m just reading wikipedia articles”_ **

**_“Aren’t those supposed to be really inaccurate?”_ **

**_“Only sometimes, I don’t really care tbh. It helps me sleep.”  
“Fair enough.”_ **

**_“How did your last finals go?”_** Stiles asked. After skimming a few more articles but not finding anything that captured his interest, he closed his computer and went to put it on his desk.

**_“Fine, I mean they were finals”_** Isaac answered.

**_“Haha, fair enough. Got any fun plans for break?”_** Stiles replied, sitting back down on his bed.

**_“Whatever I’m doing with you guys. Derek’s sister might be coming in from New York so that will be interesting. You?”_ **

**_“About the same, Lydia’s New Years Eve party is the only fun thing I’ve got coming up.”_** Stiles let out a big yawn. He crawled under his covers and began playing on his phone while he waited for Isaac to reply.

**_“Thank God for Lydia,”_ **

**_“Haha, you say that now… just wait till you’ve been friends with her for a while.”_** Stiles texted, he dropped his phone onto his bed then immediately picked it back up and typed out: **_“Hey! If we’re both not doing anything, do you wanna hang out?”_** he hit send before he could over think what he had just asked.

**_“I’ll keep that in mind haha”_** Isaac replied, Stiles looked at it, worried that Isaac might not respond to his second text, but his phone buzzed again with a text that said: ** _“When?”_**

Stiles breathed a sigh of relief and texted back: ** _“Whenever, tomorrow sound good?”_**

**_“Yeah! Come over to the loft, Derek is gone for the weekend on some work retreat”_** Stiles’ stomach fluttered a little at the idea of being in the loft alone with Isaac.

**_“Cool! I didn’t even know social workers had retreats. What do they do? Trust exercises and therapy sessions?”_** He texted back.

**_“Who knows I’ll text you tomorrow when it’s okay for you to come over”_ **

Stiles let out another huge yawn as he burrowed further under the covers **_“Okay, I should probably go to bed now though”_** he texted back.

**_“See you tomorrow then!”_** Isaac replied.

**_“See ya”_ **

Stiles set his phone onto his bedside table, and turned off his bedside lamp. He stared up at his ceiling for a while as he watched the shadows dance across it. The dreamcatcher that hung above his bed swung subtly in the breeze caused by his fan. His mother had given it to him when he was having a series of horrible nightmares, she had told him that it was supposed to filter out the bad dreams and hold the good ones. Although Stiles didn’t really have nightmares anymore.

At this thought an idea struck him, he jumped out of bed, grabbed the dream catcher off the wall and dropped it on his bed. He then went searching through his closet to find a box that it would fit in. He found a small box that looked like it once held a phone. He took it out and placed the dream catcher in it, then wrapped up the box with the spare wrapping paper. He grabbed a sharpie from his desk and in careful hand writing wrote on the wrapping paper. **To: Isaac. I hope this helps.** Then placed it under the bed with the other christmas presents.

Stiles jumped back into bed and burrowed himself under the covers, smiling at his genius idea. He knew his mother would want him to give it to someone else if they needed it and Isaac needed it. Before falling into a dreamless sleep Stiles thought to himself: Mom would have loved Isaac.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clearly, I am not dead! I was just taking finals then adjusting to being back home! Sorry for the wait, I hope at least some of you are still out there and interested in this story! I aim to have another update posted next week. As always tell me what you think in the comments, it's always appreciated and I hope everyone has a good morning/afternoon/night!  
> -Meredith


	21. Chapter 21

Stiles’ alarm woke him up at 10:30 the next morning. He jumped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom to pee and take a shower.

Stiles took the time to shave while in the shower (not that there was much to shave) and paid special attention to scrubbing at the dirt under his fingernails with a fingernail brush that he found in the depths of his bathroom cabinet. When he got out of the shower and was back in his room he checked his phone and saw a text from Isaac that said: **_I’m up, come on over._**

Stiles grinned and sent back a quick **_Ok_** before grabbing his best flannel and favorite graphic tee. 

“Woah! Where’s the fire?” The sheriff asked when Stiles bounded down the stairs.

“No fire, I’m just on my way to Isaac’s house. Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I took today off. Parrish is filling in for the day. Shouldn’t you be in bed? You’re normally not awake till 2 during break.”

“I got places to be, father. See you later!” Stiles grabbed a piece of bread from the Sheriff’s plate and ran out the door.

“Be Safe!!” Was all the sheriff could say before Stiles was out the door and backing the Jeep out of the driveway.

 

Isaac was brushing his teeth when he heard the loft door being pulled open.

“Hello!” Isaac heard Stiles call.

“Up here!” Isaac tried to yell between the toothpaste, but he only succeeded in dribbling toothpaste and spit down his chin and bare chest.

He spit out the toothpaste and wiped his chin before he walked to the top of the spiral stairs. “Up here,” he said again.

“Ya know, when you texted me I assumed you were all ready for the day and ready to entertain guests. But I guess not,” Stiles said when he saw a shirtless Isaac.

“First of all, you are not a guest, the fact that you walked in here all on your own without any invitation shows that you are in fact not a guest,” Isaac said.

“Is there a second of all to that statement?” Stiles asked bounding up the steps to join Isaac.

“Second of all, fuck you.” Isaac retorted, walking back to the bathroom to rinse out his mouth and put his toothbrush back

“I am insulted. Why do I endure this abuse,” Stiles muttered, as he followed Isaac into the bathroom

“Because if you didn’t you would have only Scott again,” Isaac said as he tossed back a capful of mouthwash.

“True, and you’re much cooler than Scott.”

“Lies! No one is better than Scott,” Isaac said, after he spit out the mouth wash.

“Except for maybe me,” Stiles said.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Isaac quipped, walking back into the bedroom and grabbing a shirt from his dresser drawer.

“You suck,” Stiles told Isaac. jumping onto his bed and lying back on the pillows. “So what are we doing to do today?”

“You were the one who asked _me_ to hang out, as the one who did the asking you should have planned the activities.”

“Well excuse me for not printing out a detailed itinerary.”

“You’re excused.”

Stiles threw a pillow at Isaac’s head, who caught it and threw it back at Stiles. “Ya know, when I first met you I thought you were super timid, now you’re just a sarcastic asshole.”

“Look who’s talking! You’re the king of the sarcastic assholes!”

“I wear the crown with pride.” Stiles said, “Ok but for real what are we doing today?”

“We could go to the mall and wander around,” Isaac suggested.

“What are we, 14 year old girls?” Stiles scoffed.

“You asked! That was my idea! What grand plans do you have?”

“We could go to the preserve,” Stiles said.

“It’s too cold.”

“It is not!”

“It’s 40 degrees. That’s cold for California and I don’t have the appropriate clothing.

“Fiiiiine, you’re so boring. Let’s go to the mall.” Stiles jumped off the bed and followed Isaac out of his bedroom and down the stairs. “If we’re going to the mall we’re stopping by the comic book store to see what new issues they have.”

“Fine by me, I used to be a huge comic book fan,” Isaac said as they walked out of the front door. He paused to lock the door then followed Stiles down the stairs.

“What happened? Did you become too cool or something?” Stiles joked as they began their descent.

“No, my dad burned all of my comics in a fit of rage one night.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Stiles said.

“Ehh, it’s fine, I should have been smart enough to hide them from him. I used to have this friend, Matt. He would come over and we would trade comics to read.”

“What happened to him?”

“My dad scared the shit out of him and he never came back. I think Matt was my last friend before I left my dad. That was the night he burned my comics too.”

“Jesus,” Stiles murmured. They had arrived at the ground floor and headed out to the Jeep.

“After that I kind of just stopped buying things I cared about.” Isaac hopped into the passenger side and Stiles into the driver’s side. Stiles didn’t start the car, he just sat there and stared at the steering wheel.

“You okay?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking,” He opened his mouth like he was going to say something. then closed it again and sighed. Then he said “It’s just… do you remember how I told you my dad started drinking after my mom died?”

Isaac nodded.

“All that stuff you said about your dad. I just think about if that happened with my dad and that’s terrifying. I can’t imagine going through that.”

“Count your lucky stars that you didn’t,” Isaac told him with more spite in his voice than he intended, he refused to look at Stiles. He felt a hand on his arm and looked up to see Stiles staring at him. Isaac held his gaze and let himself be calmed by Stiles’ hand on his bicep where his thumb was lightly rubbing his arm. After a minute or so of the two of them sitting in the Jeep in silence Isaac said: “Are we going to the mall or not.”

“Oh, yeah” Stiles snapped his gaze away from Isaac’sand jerked his hand away from his arm to start the car.Isaac couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at the loss of contact.

 

They arrived at the mall 10 minutes later and the moment they got out of the car, Stiles practically dragged Isaac to the comic store.

“I’m pretty sure you pulled my shoulder out of its socket,” Isaac griped at Stiles.

“Stop being such a baby,” Stiles said. He poured over the issues in the New Releases rack while Isaac walked further into the store and searched through the comics to see if there were any of his old favorites.

He happened upon a small section in the back that held some manga and thicker books. He picked up a book with the Star Wars logo on it called “The Bounty Hunter Code” and began flipping through it. He didn’t understand most of it, but he knew Stiles would like it. Isaac had yet to buy a secret santa gift for Stiles and he only had 5 days left until they all exchanged gifts.

Just then Stiles walked back and looked over Isaac’s shoulder at the book. “Oh my gosh this looks awesome! Can I see it?” Stiles asked.

Isaac handed it over. He watched Stiles flip through the book excitedly. He laughed to himself as he read a few sections.

“Are you going to get it?” Isaac asked. He was a little disappointed. If Stiles were to get it then he would be once again out of a possible present.

“No, I don’t have the money,” Stiles said a little dejected. He put it back on the shelf and looked at it one more time, mournfully. “Let’s keep wandering around. “Maybe we can go into Forever 21 and try on clothes. Like 14 year old girls,” He joked, grinning at Isaac.

“You are such an ass,” Isaac told him, but grinned back anyway.

“Have a nice day!” Stiles called to the man who sat behind the desk. The man raised his hand in farewell, not even looking up from the comic he was reading.

The two of them went to see a movie after some lunch at a fast food place. Stiles spent about half the film telling Isaac random trivia about the actors and the making of the movie. But Isaac didn’t mind. Whenever Stiles would lean over to whisper in his ear, his hand would grip the top of Isaac’s on the arm rest and Stiles’ breath would ghost over Isaac’s ear and neck and made him shiver. 

There had only been one other person that Isaac had had a crush on before Stiles, and that was Matt. Isaac had purposely failed to mention that part of his story to Stiles earlier. He didn’t want to have to start talking about the fear his dad had instilled into him if he found out that Isaac was gay. It was partially why he was so scared at the prospect of ‘something more’ with Stiles. But Isaac tried to ignore that. Instead he enjoyed the movie and Stiles’ arm pressing against his while they shared an arm rest.

When they left the movie it was getting dark out. “Time to go?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Isaac replied.

They passed the comic store again and Isaac looked at the closing times and made a split second decision. “Actually, do you think you could meet me at the front? I need to grab something real quick for Derek’s christmas present. I promise to be real fast.”

“Okay, yeah go, I’ll text you when I’m parked by the entrance.”

“Okay, thanks!” Isaac ran into the store and went immediately to the back of the store, to grab the book.

“Is this all?” The man behind the counter said.

“Yes.”

“Alright,” the man put it into a plain plastic bag and handed it over to Isaac.

“Thanks, have a good night.”

Isaac got the text from Stiles as he was walking back. He jogged to the entrance and picked up his pace once he could make out the Jeep in the fading evening light. 

“Got the present?” Stiles asked as Isaac got into the car.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“No problem,” Stiles said, “Do you want me to drop you off at your place or would you like to come over for some pizza?”

“Just drop me off at my place,” Isaac told him.

By the time Stiles dropped Isaac off at the loft it was completely dark.

“I had a fun time today,” Isaac said before he jumped out of the jeep.

“Yeah me too. Sorry if I talked your ear off during the movie,” Stiles apologized.

“Don’t worry about it, I kind of liked it,” Isaac admitted.

Stiles laughed: “I’ll keep that in mind for next time. See you later!”

Isaac made his way up the stairs, to the loft. When he made it to the landing he saw the loft door was slightly ajar and he could see light streaming out into the hallway. He slowed down clutched his keys for a weapon. Slowly, he opened the door of the loft a little more and slipped in as quietly as possible.

Isaac expected a man in black clothing with a pillowcase full of valuables, but instead he saw a young woman lounging on the couch watching cartoons with her feet propped up on the coffee table.

“Uhh, who the hell are you,” Isaac said, rather rudely.

The woman looked over at him and replied: “Depends, who the hell are you.”

“I’m Isaac Lahey, I live here.”

A look of recognition flashed over the woman’s face. “Ohh so you’re Isaac!” she exclaimed, the woman jumped up and came over to hug Isaac tightly. “It’s so nice to meet you! I’m Laura! I’m Derek’s older sister. The one from New York.”

“I thought you were supposed to be here on the 24th,” Isaac replied, not returning the hug.

“I was, but I managed to get work off earlier, so I decided to surprise Derek. Where is my dear brother, by the way?”

“On some work retreat,” Isaac said, “He should be back tomorrow night.”

“Well, I’ll just take his bed until he gets back. Don’t mind me, I’ll just be chilling out here for a while.” Laura sprawled herself out on the cough again

Isaac just stood in the middle of the loft for a moment weirded out and a little taken aback before going up to his room to wrap Stiles’ present.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise y'all they should be getting together in a couple chapters! Don't worry, it's going to happen and I think you'll enjoy it! Oh! and also that Bounty Hunter Code book does exist!  
> http://www.modcloth.com/shop/books/the-bounty-hunter-code  
> -Meredith


	22. Chapter 22

“Isaac! Get up! There are presents to be unwrapped!!!” 

Isaac groaned. He looked at the clock on his bedside table and saw that it only read 7:30.

“Isaac!!” Laura yelled.

Ever since Derek’s sister had come to visit, she had wasted no time in making herself comfortable. Somehow her belongings were spread out through the loft, and she treated Isaac like he was her long lost baby brother, often teasing him about as much as she teased Derek, which was relentless.

When Isaac didn’t respond to her she opened his door and said, “these presents aren’t going to open themselves!”

He groaned again and dragged himself out of bed. Grabbing a hoodie to pull over his shirtless torso, he exited his bedroom and went to join Derek and Laura around the christmas tree in the corner of the loft.

“Okay okay! Let’s get to unwrapping!! Derek, this one is for you, from me!” She said, giving Derek a rectangular box. He unwrapped it and pulled out a sweater. On it, it said “Sarcasm Loading. . .” with a loading bar on it. 

“So what hole of the internet did you have to go to to find this sweatshirt?” Derek said.

“One that I don’t want to go back to. But anything for you, Der-bear!” She said affectionately.

“You’re the worst sister ever,” Derek said.

“Lies. Anyway! Isaac, this one is from Derek!” Laura said, handing Isaac a bag. He opened it and pulled out a black, moleskin journal. Taped on top of the journal was another smaller box. Isaac unwrapped that and inside was a beautiful fountain pen.

“Derek, this is awesome! Thanks so much!” Isaac said.

“No problem! Glad you like it!” Derek replied.

Laura pulled out a small box. 

“Ooh! This one is for me!” she said, unwrapping the paper and opening up the box. “Oh my gosh, Derek, you shouldn’t have!” She held up a small necklace with a locket on the end.

“Open it up,” he said, smiling. 

She did as he instructed and opened up the small locket. She let out a small gasp and clutched it to her chest. “Der! Who knew you were secretly such a sap!” Laura said.

“Can I see?” Isaac asked. Laura handed him the locket before she pulled Derek into a bone crushing hug. Inside the locket was a picture of Laura, Derek and another girl who Isaac could only assume was their little sister, Cora. 

“I hate you, Derek! You made me cry! You are a horrible little brother,” Laura accused him wiping away a few tears.

“I could just take that back,” Derek suggested, going to take the necklace from Isaac.

“No!” Laura exclaimed and snatched the locket from Isaac. She clasped it around her neck and tucked it in under her t-shirt. “I am not taking this off till the day I die. Alright, we have got two more presents under here. One for Derek and one for Isaac.”

She handed them the presents and sat back. Derek’s present was from Isaac and it was a book that Derek had been telling Isaac about a few weeks ago. “How did you know?” Derek said in a mock surprise voice.

“Oh, I don’t know… I just had a feeling,” Isaac replied. He then opened up his package from Laura. “Laura, you really shouldn’t have,” Isaac said when he finished unwrapping. Inside was a brand new phone.

“It was my pleasure, Isaac,” she said smiling.

“No, Laura, I really can’t take this,” Isaac insisted thrusting the sleek box back towards her.

She held her hands up. 

“Isaac, it really is no trouble. In a way, you’re a part of this family. That phone is yours. I put it under your name. It has all your friends’ numbers in it. I will not take it back!” she insisted. “It’s much better than your phone! That phone looks like it might fall apart if you squeeze it too hard.”

Isaac sighed and clutched the box with two hands in defeat. “Thanks so much, I really don’t deserve this,” he said.

“Bullshit! You definitely deserve it. Plus! What’s the point of being a lawyer with great pay if I can’t splurge on family a little!” Laura said, grinning. She jumped up and headed towards the kitchen. “Now I’ve got some quiche in the fridge to be heated and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls to cook. If you guys want some of this delicious Christmas breakfast you’re going to have to help.”

“Let me just put all of this stuff upstairs,” Isaac said. He grabbed his stuff off of the floor and headed to his room.

When he got in, he placed Derek’s present on his bed then sat down to unpack the new phone. He held the phone in his hand and marveled at it for a second. His dad had never gotten him anything this nice and he played Laura’s words about family in his head over and over.

“Come on Isaac! This fruit salad isn’t going to make itself!” Laura called.

“Be down in a minute!” he yelled back. Isaac plugged in the new phone to charge then went downstairs to help with the food.

~ ~ ~

“Derek! I’m leaving for Scott’s house!!” Isaac yelled down the stairs as he pulled on a cardigan. He grabbed his keys off the bed and slipped his phone into his back pocket before he headed down the stairs.

Derek wasn’t downstairs, but Laura was sprawled out on the couch, reading a book.

“Where’s Derek?” he asked her.

“He went out for a run. Do you need something?”

“No, can you tell him that I’m going to be at Scott’s?”

“Sure.”

Isaac slipped his shoes on and was almost out the door when Laura said, “are you walking there?”

“Yeah,”

“I can drive you,” Laura offered.

“You sure?”

“Yeah! I’ve got nothing else to do and it’ll save your feet.”

“Alright, sure thanks!”

“Let me just grab my shoes and keys.” Laura stole Derek’s keys from off the counter, then slipped on her shoes. “Alright, let’s go!”

 

Laura dropped Isaac off in front of the McCall house. Isaac grabbed Stiles’ present, now wrapped up in a brown paper bag (there was no wrapping paper in the loft) and jumped out of the car.

“Thanks for the ride, Laura,” Isaac said, through the window.

“No problem hun!” she replied

“Can you tell Derek where I am?”

“Yeah, for sure! Now go have fun! Text me if you need a ride back.”

“I don’t think I will. Stiles will probably be able to give me a ride. See you later!” Isaac walked up the front lawn and rang the doorbell. After a moment the front door was pulled open.

“Hey Isaac!” Melissa said “Come on in! Everyone is in the living room.”

Isaac waved to Laura to let her know she could leave and then stepped into the house. He made his way to the living room while Melissa went back to her cup of coffee and newspaper in the kitchen. Pretty much everyone was already there. The only people missing were Erica and Boyd.

“Hey Isaac! Come pop a squat!” Stiles said patting the patch of rug next to him. “We’re just waiting for Erica and Boyd to show up then we’ll get to presents,” Stiles told Isaac when Isaac sat down next to him.

“Are we doing anything else?” Isaac asked.

“Maybe a movie afterwards? I don’t know really,” Stiles said. “Hey Scott, we got any plans after presents?”

“We could always watch Elf,” Scott suggested from his seat on the couch.

“God no!” Lydia exclaimed; she sat on the other end of the couch with her legs tucked under her and a blanket covering her lap. “I am not watching that god damn movie again!”

“Well what would you suggest then,” Stiles sniped back. “And don’t say The Notebook; that is not a Christmas movie! I will only watch Christmas movies!”

“It’s not even Christmas anymore,” Isaac said to him.

“Thank you for backing me up, Isaac!” Lydia said.

“You’re taking her side?” Stiles said, giving him a disgusted look “Don’t side with the Scrooge! I don’t care if Christmas has happened or not! If it’s below 40 degrees and people have lights in front of their house, it’s Christmas season dammit!”

“You seem to have a lot of strong feelings over Christmas,” Isaac said.

“We go all out for Christmas at the Stilinski house,” Stiles told him.

Just then the doorbell rang and Scott hopped off the couch to answer the door. “Erica and Boyd are here!!” He called after moment.

“Finally, we can unwrap these presents!” Stiles said.

“You are so impatient,” Lydia scoffed.

“Don’t make me take back your present Lydia Martin!”

“You don’t have my present Stiles Stilinski!”

“How do you know that?!”

“Because if you had me, you would definitely have gotten me that book on Astrophysics I told you about and that book definitely doesn’t fit that little box you hold in your hands.”

“Will you two just hold off for one night,” Allison piped up from her seat in the recliner. “By the way, hello Isaac. Sorry, I didn’t say hi earlier; I was trying to get some sleep.”

“Long night?” He asked.

“Something like that. My dad had to take a last minute road trip a little south of here to meet up with a client and he thought it would be a perfect opportunity to have some ‘father daughter time,’” She explained.

“Your father seems to have impeccable timing,” Isaac said.

“Oh yes, he is the master of timing,” she replied sarcasm dripping from every word.

Boyd and Erica both entered the room a wrapped present in each of their hands. Erica plopped down next to Isaac and wrapped her arms around him tightly. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” She whined.

He tried his best to hug her back with his arms pinned under hers. “We saw each other a week ago,” he told her.

“That’s way too long of a time! I can’t be away from you for more than a couple days, Lahey, I’m worried you’ll go insane without me.”

“Which is why you can never leave me!” Isaac said, kissing her on the forehead. “So do we just guess who each other has or give our presents?” Isaac asked.

“Just give them,” Scott said, as he returned from locking the front door. “Who’s gonna go first?” He asked.

“I will,” Isaac said. He handed over his present to Stiles who immediately tore into the wrapping paper. He let out a gleeful cackle when he saw what it was. “I was wondering why you were going into the comic book shop for Derek’s present! Now it all makes sense! This is awesome!” Stiles wrapped Isaac in a quick hug before he started leafing through the pages.

“Stilinski, hand over your present!” Erica barked.

“Oh, yeah, Allison, catch!” 

He threw the small box at Allison and she caught it with ease. She undid the tiny bow and wrapped the ribbon around her hand before unwrapping and opening up the box. 

“Stiles, these are great! I love them!” She showed the group the pair of small earrings thatStiles had bought. “In fact I am going to put them on right now!” She switched the earrings then handed over her gift to Erica.

“Oooh, this color is amazing,” Erica said, marveling at the bright red nail polish Allison had gotten for her. “Now no one will be able to see the blood of my enemies under my nails,” she said with an evil grin. 

Erica handed an envelope to Boyd which contained two tickets to a concert in February. Then Boyd gave Scott a small box that contained a copy of a key to the Ice Rink that Boyd worked at. “Just don’t go lending this out or my boss will kill me,” Boyd told Scott with a grin.

“I’ll try not to,” Scott told him.

“So where’s my present?” Lydia asked.

“I’ll go get it!” Scott replied, grinning from ear to ear. “You’re going to love it!” He bounded up the stairs and several minutes later came downstairs carrying a cage in hand with a bow on top of it. “Say hello to Prada’s new best friend!” Scott said triumphantly. He placed the cage on the floor and opened the door. A white curly furred puppy bounded out of the cage and made a beeline for Lydia’s lap.

“Oh my gosh, she’s precious!” Lydia cooed. “Where did you get her?”

“She was a stray that someone brought into Deaton’s the other day. She had nowhere to go and you mentioned that you wanted to get Prada a friend. She should probably stay here a couple more days and have her and Prada meet in neutral ground before you bring her home but for all intents and purposes she’s yours!”

“Does she have a name?” Lydia asked.

“Nope, I decided you should get the honor of naming her!”

“Are you gonna name her Dior?” Stiles smirked.

Lydia shot him a withering glare, “I’m naming her Amalie Noether, after the famous mathematician and Physicist. But just call her Emmy,” Lydia said. “Now, for my present. Here you are, Isaac!” Lydia handed Isaac a rectangular box. 

He unwrapped the box and opened up the lid. Inside, hidden under a couple sheets of tissue paper, was a sleek looking leather jacket.

“Lydia, I highly doubt this was 20 dollars or under,” Isaac said.

“Well I could just return it and buy you a cheap one at Target that’ll last you 6 months and not even keep you warm,” she challenged.

“No, no I love it! It’s just, you didn't have to get this for me.”

“Hun, you look the equivalent of a fluffy bunny in your giant sweaters and scarves. You need something to make you a little less bunny rabbit and a little more like a wolf. Or at least a Husky. Try it on, I want to see if it fits,” Lydia told him.

Isaac slipped on the jacket and found that it fit perfectly. “Thanks so much Lyds, it’s great!” Isaac went to hang it by the front door then rejoined the group in the living room.

Since Lydia refused to watch Elf, they ended up watching the first two Home Alone movies, a giant bowl of popcorn being passed around between the 7 of them. 

By the time only kernels were left and The Bird Lady saves Kevin from the Wet Bandits, it was almost midnight and almost everyone was dozing off. Lydia was curled up in one end of the couch with Emmy in her lap, Allison and Scott cuddled up in the recliner together with Allison asleep on Scott’s chest. Stiles’ head lolled back on the back of the couch where he sat beside Isaac and Erica is fast asleep on the floor with her head in Boyd’s lap.

Scott let out a loud yawn, “Alright, y’all need to get out. I’m going to bed,” he announced.

Isaac poked Stiles, who jerked awake. “Hey, can you give me a ride back?” Isaac asked him.

“Yeah, for sure,” Stiles replied as he yawned.

Isaac went to grab his jacket and scarf from the front door then went back to the living room where everyone else was slowly making their way to the front door. Erica came over to Isaac and wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into him. “Merry Christmas, Lahey,” she said sleepily.

“Merry Christmas Reyes,” he replied wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

“This jacket fits you well,” Erica told him.

“Tell Lydia that, she’s the only who picked it out.”

“You ready to go?” Stiles asked Isaac.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Isaac gave Erica one final squeeze then let her go to follow Stiles out the door.

It was chilly outside and Isaac shivered even with the jacket and scarf on. He climbed into the Jeep as Stiles started it up. It sputtered a little bit but managed to turn on. “This poor car is starting to see its last days,” Stiles muttered as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Maybe you should get a new one,” Isaac suggested.

“First of all, no, this Jeep does not get left behind. And secondly that’s fucking expensive. I am not paying for a new car. I’ve got my trusty duct tape to help keep this car going,” Stiles said pointing to the roll of duct tape that was at Isaac’s feet.

“You should probably invest in better tools than duct tape,” Isaac told him, picking up the duct tape and placing it in the glove compartment. As he bent down he found a small box laying under the seat, he pulled it out. “What’s this?” He asked.

Stiles glanced at the box in Isaac’s hand. “Oh, that, oh that’s uhh…. well. That’s a present. For you.” he stuttered. 

“For me? But why?” Isaac asked.

“I just saw it and thought you’d like it. It’s not a big deal. Really.”

“Can I open it?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, go for it.”

Isaac unwrapped and opened the box. Inside, was a dreamcatcher.

“I thought it might help your nightmares,” Stiles quickly explained. He was staring straight ahead at the lone stoplight they were at. “My mom gave that to me when I was having nightmares and it helped. I don’t have them anymore so I figured that it would do you more good than me these days. It’s dumb, I know, but well. It’s comforting in a way.”

“No, I love it! But do you really want to give me something your mom gave you?’ Isaac asked him.

“Yeah! Like I said, I don’t use it and it’s not like it’s the only thing I have left of her. She would want me to give it to you,”

“Okay.” Isaac placed the dreamcatcher back in the box and clutched it in his hands for the rest of the drive home, his heart thumping unusually fast. 

When Stiles parked in front of Isaac’s building Isaac didn’t get out immediately.

“Thanks for the present,” Isaac said, smiling slightly.

“Yeah, of course. And thanks for mine.”

Isaac leaned over in his seat to pull Stiles into a tight hug. He tried to pour his gratitude into the hug and Stiles must have gotten the message because he hugged back just as tightly.

“See you at Lydia’s for New Year’s Eve,” Isaac said as he hopped out of the car.

“Yeah see you there.” 

Stiles drove away and Isaac made his way to the loft.

When Isaac got into his bedroom he took the dreamcatcher out of the box and, holding it like glass, carefully hooked it onto his bed post. Then he stripped down and crawled into bed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, sorry it took so long for an update! Thanks for continuing to read and I hope this super long chapter makes up for my absence! Make sure you send some kudos, or bookmark, comment, share. Or any other way you show your love! Love y'all!  
> -Meredith


	23. Chapter 23

Isaac woke up to his phone buzzing on his bedside table. He picked it up and saw a picture of Stiles on his screen.

“Hello,” he croaked, his voice dry from sleep.

“Hey Isaac! Get up, we need your help to set up for the party tonight!”

“Stiles, it’s like 9:30, the party isn’t for another 12 hours.”

“Tell that to Lydia, now get up, I’m coming over to pick you up.”

“Stiles, I-” but Stiles hung up before Isaac complete his sentence.

Isaac groaned and stretched, hearing some joints pop. He rolled out of bed and his nicest pair of jeans and a white v-neck to put on, then made his way downstairs.

“You’re up early,” Derek commented. He was leaning against the counter scanning the newspaper with a mug of coffee in his hands.

“Stiles called to wake me up and get me to help set up for Lydia’s party tonight. He’s picking me up in a few minutes,” Isaac told him. He grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and poured himself some cereal, then sat down at the counter across from Derek. “Are you doing anything for new years?” Isaac asked.

“Well, right before Laura went back to New York she was ‘kind’ enough to set me up on a blind date with someone she met at the grocery store so that’s what I’ve got going on.”

“Hope that works out well,” Isaac said.

“You and me both, kid.”

Isaac finished his cereal then rinsed out the bowl and stuck it in the dishwasher. He grabbed his new jacket off the coat rack by the door and slipped on his shoes.

“Isaac,” Derek called. Isaac looked up at him. “If there’s drinking tonight, call me if you need a ride home. I know it’s the cliché parental thing to say, but I’m serious. I don’t want you getting a ride home from anyone who’s been drinking and I am ready and willing to pick you up if you need it. No lectures or judgements attached.”

“Thanks Der,” Isaac said. “I’ll call if I need you.”

“That’s all I ask,” Derek replied. He went back to reading the front page and sipping on his coffee.

Isaac then grabbed a scarf and wrapped it around his neck before leaving the loft.

“Okay, so we have to grab a few things before we go back to Lydia’s place,” Stiles announced when Isaac climbed into the car. He waved a piece of paper in Isaac’s face. Isaac grabbed it and read down the list.

“Lydia doesn’t seem the type to want black and gold balloons,” Isaac said.

“That was at the request of Scott. I don’t know why but he bugged her about balloons so much that she gave in.”

“Also, what does she mean by silver plated leaves?”

“I have no idea. I don’t know why she sent me. She knows I have no idea what I’m doing.”

They drove to a mom and pop craft store in the center of Beacon Hills where they scoured for the things on Lydia’s list. They found Scott’s balloons with ease, and Stiles insisted on getting poppers even though it wasn’t on the list, and after 10-15 minutes of thorough searching they managed to find what looked like fake, leaves that were painted in silver. “I guess this’ll have to do,” Stiles sighed, he grabbed a couple packages and tossed them into their basket.

“I get the feeling that Lydia is not the type to settle for plastic decorations,” Isaac commented as they drove back to Lydia’s house.

“You’d think that, but as long as it does the job adequately I don’t think she minds all that much. Plus half the stuff is going to be broken by drunk people by the end of the night anyway,” Stiles replied.

They arrived at Lydia’s just as another car was pulling up. It was a sleek silver Porsche that was going way too fast for Lydia’s gravel driveway.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Stiles muttered.

“What?” Isaac asked.

“It’s Jackson.”

Sure enough Jackson stepped out of the Porsche with a pair of aviators on and a sleek leather jacket. Danny exited on the other side with a box full of alcohol in it and walked straight into Lydia’s.

Jackson took a look at Isaac and Stiles sitting in the Jeep and smirked at them before he walked into the house.

“I fucking hate him,” Stiles muttered. “Him and his stupid perfectly gelled hair and disgustingly white and straight teeth. Piece of shit.”

“Sounds like you have a crush on him,” Isaac smirked.

“The man is pretty but his heart is as black as his leather jacket. Plus there’s another guy’s heart with my name on it,” Stiles remarked. And with that he jumped out of the jeep and grabbed the bag full of supplies. Isaac jumped out behind him and the two of them walked in.

“Stiles did you get the supplies?” Lydia asked the moment they walked in.

“Everything on the list is in this bag, plus a few other goodies,” Stiles told her, handing over the bag. She took it and rushed off. 

“Nice to see you again, Lahey,” a voice drawled behind Isaac. He turned to see Jackson, as pompous as ever, grinning at him. “Missed seeing you across the street. Although I must admit it’s much quieter around without your dad though.”

Isaac’s face felt like it was burning and he tried not to show how much Jackson was affecting him.

“Jackson, you’re not even here 5 minutes and you are already being a Grade A asshole,” Allison said as she walked into the room, scowling at him.

“I’m just making conversation, Ally!” Jackson told her.

“No, you’re just being an asshole. Now stop showing off and actually help or I will kick you out of the house myself, whether Lydia likes it or not.” Allison told him.

Jackson scowled and skulked off into the kitchen, no doubt to help Danny set up the bar.

“Thanks,” Isaac told her.

“Don’t worry about it, Isaac. Jackson has his good moments but overall he’s an asshole. Want to come and help me and Scott set up in the back?”

“Sure,” Isaac answered, appreciating Allison’s efforts to shake Jackson’s comments from his mind. She placed a comforting hand on the small of his back and steered him towards the back yard where Scott was wrapping a long strip of gold ribbon around the pillars on the back porch.

“Hey Isaac! Long time no see!” Scott called.

“Hey Scott,” Isaac replied.

“Isaac, you can do what Scott’s doing on the opposite side.” Allison told him, holding out a roll of ribbon.

“Sure,” he said and grabbed the ribbon from Allison and set to work. He continued wrapping ribbon around the remaining pillars and then wrapped it around the banister to the couple steps down to the patio.

By the time Isaac and Scott had finished decorating everything in the backyard it was 6 and Stiles had ordered pizza to celebrate the their efforts in decorating.

“I’ve gotta hand it to you, Lyds, this party is going to be epic,” Stiles stated.

“I expect nothing less,” Lydia said, smiling sweetly at him. “One last thing, if you’re staying tonight, I need to give you a key to a bedroom upstairs. I’m locking every other room so people don’t go into them. I only have room for 2 people, or 4 if people want to share, plus one in my room but that’s reserved for Jackson, or Allison.” 

Stiles mimed gagging at the mention of Jackson before he said: “I’ll take one of them.” 

Lydia handed him a key. “Anyone else?” she asked.

“I’ll take the other one,” Scott said. He took the second key from Lydia and pocketed it.

 

By 9 o’clock guests began to arrive. Someone had brought in a ping pong table that was immediately set up in the backyard, and the TV was blasting the New Years Eve Bash in New York.

Isaac was sitting on the couch, nursing a cup of beer that someone stuffed into his hand earlier while he watched Ryan Seacrest interview some actor about their upcoming film. Scott and Stiles were once again playing Beer Pong against Danny and Jackson, which seemed to be a party tradition.

Isaac had been excited to go out and celebrate New Year’s with his new friends, but right now all he could focus on is why he was here and how he fit in. He stuck out like a sore thumb between the two couples that were making out on either side of him. All of his friends seemed to have ditched him and he was trying hard to not just pull out his phone and call Derek to pick him up. The only thing that stopped him was that he didn’t want to disturb Derek on his date.

He pried himself free from the couch and walked into a back room that was less crowded and pulled out his phone. He stared at Derek’s contact for a moment, then sighed and exited out of it. He pulled up his text conversation with Erica and texted her **_“Save me!”_**

**_“From what?”_ **

**_“This party, everyone has abandoned me!”_ **

**_“What about Stiles?”  
“What about him?”_ **

**_“Where is he?”_ **

**_“Playing Beer Pong with Scott.”_ **

**_“Go get him,”_ **

**_“ERICA, just come pick me up!”_ **

**_“No”_** Isaac sighed at her replied. But then she texted him: **_“But I will come and join you, I need to get out of this stuffy family party anyway.”_**

**_“Fiiiiine”_ **

**_“Be there in 10 minutes, grab some beer for me”_ **

Isaac huffed and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He walked back into the kitchen and grabbed an empty Solo cup and filled it with beer, then he walked to the front to wait for Erica outside.

She sped up the driveway in her mom’s silver Lexus and stepped out in heels, strutting up to Isaac.

Isaac held out the cup and she grabbed it. “Why thank you, Isaac! God, that party was awful. My relatives kept asking me what I was going to do with my life. How am I supposed to know? I don’t even know what I’m doing next week!” Erica grabbed Isaac’s hand and hauled him back into the house.

“Erica, where are you dragging me?” He asked, trying to keep up.

“To dance,” she stated. She threw her now empty cup into a trash can when they passed through the kitchen, then led Isaac downstairs.

Isaac felt slightly claustrophobic in the low ceiling basement packed full of bodies. But Erica’s hand in his kept him grounded as they weaved their way through the crowd. She stopped somewhere in the middle of the crowd and turned around. “Don’t just stand there like a dummy! Dance with me!” She said. 

Isaac lost himself in the dancing. With Erica’s hands on his hips, guiding him he found it easy to follow the beat and let his “body talk” as it were. She laughed at his slight awkwardness, but embraced it. Everyone else was too lost in their own little worlds to pay attention and to judge him. In a tiny basement surrounded by bodies he somehow felt freer than he had ever been. 

“I have to get some water!” Erica yelled into his ear after a while. “Wanna come?”

Isaac nodded.

Erica grabbed his hand and led him out of the crowd and up the stairs. It was 10 degrees cooler on the main floor compared to the basement and Isaac welcomed it. He was drenched in sweat and he didn’t mind.

Erica continued to drag Isaac behind her, into the kitchen. 

“How you feeling?” Erica asked him.

“Good,” He said.

“Just, good? I saw your smile down there. You were actually having fun!”

“Fuck off,” he said but he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face.

“Well would you look at that, it’s 11:30. Only half an hour left until the new year,” Erica said.

“ISAAAAAC!!” Someone screeched.

Isaac turned around to see Stiles running towards him with a pair of 2015 glasses. Stiles was running towards Isaac and crashed into him. Isaac tried his best to keep his balance as Stiles bared all of his weight into his side.

“WE BEAT JACKSON AND DANNY!” Stiles shouted. “WE KICKED THEIR ASSES!”

“Nice job!” Isaac exclaimed.

“Now I need some water to celebrate because my mouth tastes like shitty beer,” Stiles said and he grabbed a cup and filled it with water from the tap. He chugged it, stuck the glass in the sink then began rooting through the fridge for food.

“So how do you feel about reigning in the new year surrounded by a bunch of drunks?” Erica asked.

“No different than my other new years,” Isaac said, without thinking. He saw Erica cringe and added “Except this time I enjoy the drunks I’m surrounded by.” 

Isaac had told Erica about his dad when they were taking a drive through the Beacon Hills preserve, one night. He hadn’t meant to tell her, it had just slipped. Her immediate response was to take her hand off of the gear shift and grab his. She hadn’t said a word, just held onto his hand for twenty minutes as he had spilled his guts to her. He wasn’t sure why it had been Erica, but she made him feel at ease in a way that he had only felt with a handful of people.

When she had dropped him off at the loft that night she pulled him into a hug and told him that he was one of the best things that had ever happened to her and that if she ever met his dad she would “punch him in the balls so hard he’d be coughing them back up.”

“I wouldn’t want to spend my new years any other way,” Isaac continued, reassuring her.

Erica smiled at him, a little strained. He pulled her into a quick hug. When he backed up he accidentally bumped into someone “oh shit, sorry,” he said.

“Fuckin’ watch it!” Isaac turned around to see a stumbling Jackson. “I was standing right fucking here, and you couldn’t see me,” he continued. “Did your daddy hit you so hard you can’t even see straight now?”

“Fuck you, Jackson,” was all Isaac managed as a comeback. His heart began to pound in his chest.

“Hey, Jackson! You may have a tiny dick but doesn’t mean you have to make up for it in your personality,” Stiles said, coming up to stand beside Isaac.

“This isn’t any of your fucking business, Stilinski. Stop butting in where no one needs you!” Jackson spat, turning his attention to Stiles.

“Isaac’s my friend it is my business. Now turn your drunk ass around before I throw you in the pool, ugly designer shoes and all.”

“You think you can talk to me like that?”

“Yeah, I do. You may have daddy issues that you refuse to get past, but keep that shit to yourself.” Stiles hissed, shoving his face right into Jackson’s.

In a flash, Jackson shoved Stiles up against the wall and punched Stiles square in the nose, and Stiles fell, sprawled on the kitchen floor.

“Jackson! What the fuck!” someone in the kitchen, cried. Before he could get anymore hits in several people were dragging Jackson out of the room.

“Fuck, that hurt,” Stiles said, still sprawled on the floor. His nose was bleeding profusely andthe skin on the bridge of his nose had broken open a little.

“That’s what happens when you get punched in the face,” Isaac replied, offering his hand to pull Stiles up.

“I’m hurt! Don’t be sassy!” Stiles retorted. He leaned against Isaac, a little disoriented.

“I’m going to clean him up,” Isaac told Erica.

She nodded.

Isaac led Stiles out of the kitchen.

Stiles was standing on his own now. But Isaac kept a hold on his arm to keep him steady. Isaac led Stiles up the stairs and towards the bathroom. The upstairs was practically deserted at this point, everyone else was downstairs watching the TV, waiting for the ball to drop in New York.

“Do you know where Lydia keeps her first aid kit?” Isaac asked, when they found the bathroom.

“She doesn’t have one,” Stiles answered sniffing through his now stuffed up nose. He sat down on the toilet and held his nose back.

“How does someone just not have a first aid kit,” Isaac muttered. He rooted through the cabinets and managed to find some cotton balls to clean up the blood and a small bandage to cover up the cut on Stiles’ nose.

He grabbed what he needed and knelt down in front of Stiles. “Let me see your nose” Isaac said softly.

Stiles brought his head back down, and Isaac set to work on cleaning up the blood. His nose had stopped bleeding and most of the blood had dried.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” Stiles complained, as Isaac cleaned him off.

“Stop being such a baby,” Isaac murmured. 

“I have a broken nose,” Stiles complained.

“No you don’t, I’ve seen a couple broken noses in my day, and this isn’t one of them,” Isaac told him. “Thanks for defending me by the way.”

“I’ve been looking for a reason to fight Jackson since the 8th grade,” Stiles replied, chuckling. He grimaced at the pain the movement caused.

Isaac finished cleaning up the blood and looked Stiles straight in the eyes; “Seriously Stiles, thanks. No one has ever really stood up for me like you have. Except for maybe Camden when we were kids. But he’s been gone for a while, so…” his last statement kind of trailed off. He grabbed the bandaid and tenderly placed it over the cut. 

“Hey,” Stiles said softly, he cupped Isaac’s jaw.

Downstairs, people had begun counting down to the new year.

10…9…

Stiles’ thumb was lightly stroking Isaac’s jaw.

8…7…

Isaac was getting lost in Stiles’ gaze. His eyes drawing him in like a wave toward the ocean.

6…5…

Isaac watched Stiles’ eyes flicked to his own lips. Isaac remembered the feel of Stiles’ lips on his. How soft Stiles’ lips were. He missed it.

3…2…

Isaac’s heart was beating out of his chest. Was he going to do this? Was he really going to kiss Stiles even after the problems it caused last time?

1…

Yes. He was. Before Isaac could overthink it, he surged forward, and trying to avoid Stiles’ nose. Isaac kissed him.

Stiles gasped a little at the surprise, but quickly responded. He cupped Isaac’s face in his hands, and pulled him in a little closer.

He could hear the cheering going on downstairs, but he ignored it. Instead he focused on Stiles’ lips against his. 

Isaac threaded his fingers through Stiles’ hair while his found its way to Isaac’s waist. He sat up on his knees, leaning against the toilet, between Stiles’ legs. 

The movement, jostled Stiles’ nose and he whined in pain.

“Sorry,” Isaac said pulling away.

“Don’t worry about it,” Stiles said. He pulled Isaac back in, carefully avoiding his tender nose.

After a while Isaac’s knees began to ache on the hard floor. He broke apart from Stiles, who whined at the loss of contact. “Can we get out of this bathroom. My knees are starting to hurt.”

“Wanna go to the room?” Stiles asked. He dug a key out of his pocket and held it up.

Isaac considered it for a second. “Sure,”

They made their way to the bedroom. It sounded like the party was dying down. Either people had left. Or they passed out throughout the house.

The moment they entered the room and closed the door Stiles pushed Isaac against the door and reattached their lips. He smoothly slipped his tongue into Isaac’s mouth and Isaac put his hands into the back pockets of Stiles’ jeans. Stiles moaned a little. It spurred Isaac on, squeezing Stiles’s ass and moving his lips to Stiles’ neck.

“You really need to take this shirt off,” Stiles gasped.

“Only if you take yours off,” Isaac challenged.

“On the count of three,” Stiles grinned.

“You are seriously the stupidest person I’ve ever met,” Isaac laughed. 

“Shut up and take your shirt off.” 

They both stripped off their shirts and threw them across the room. Isaac began backing Stiles up towards the bed. They crashed down onto the bed and Stiles pushed himself up to the headboard with Isaac following.

“Jeez Isaac, stop being so desperate,” Stiles joked as Isaac went in for Stiles’ neck.

Isaac lifted his head to stare at Stiles and said “I will literally push you off this bed and go to sleep if you make one more sarcastic comment.”

Stiles snorted and brought Isaac back down for a kiss. “I’m joking, please don’t stop, go to town, I’m greatly enjoying this.”

“I can tell,” Isaac replied. 

“I hate you,” Stiles said, but kissed him again anyway.

He took pleasure in exploring Stiles’ chest and stomach with his hands. Feeling each rib with his thumb, curving his hands around Stiles’ prominent hipbones. Stiles hissed when Isaac’s hands moved up to his chest and brushed his nipples. “Does that feel good?” Isaac asked when he accidentally brushed Stiles’ nipples again.

“I have sensitive nipples, okay,” Stiles said, blushing slightly.

Isaac tried to hold back a laugh at this comment.

“It’s a thing, okay?” Stiles said getting a little redder.

“I’m not denying that it is, I just think that it’s funny how intensely you reacted.”

“Oh, let’s try rubbing your nipples and see how you react,” Stiles retorted. He flipped Isaac over onto his back and straddled him. He lightly stroked Isaac’s stomach, and ribs, like Isaac had done to him, then slowly made his hands up until they arrived at Isaac’s pecs. He flicked his thumb over Isaac’s nipples and Isaac hissed. “Yeah, not so funny now, is it,” Stiles smirked.

“I can’t tell if you’re trying to prove a point or turn me on,” Isaac breathed.

“Maybe a little bit of both,” Stiles replied. He bent down, putting his face right in from of Isaac’s, staring at him for a moment, before going in to kiss him. His hands still laying on Isaac’s chest. Stiles swiped his thumbs over Isaac’s nipples again and Isaac gripped the back of Stiles’ neck a little harder in reply; nails scraping against his skin a little. 

They kissed until their lips were raw, and every part of Isaac’s body was buzzing. Stiles had firmly planted one hand on Isaac’s chest, and the other under his upper back.

“I don’t know about you, but this kissing is really starting to tire me out, I think it might be time to sleep,” Stiles said, his voice a little hoarse from disuse and lack of sleep.

Isaac just nodded, his chest heaving slightly. “Is there a bathroom nearby, I need to get some water,” he asked.

“Yeah, there’s one through that door,” Stiles pointed to a door across the room.

Isaac stood up, legs a little bit shaky and made his way to the bathroom. He couldn’t find a glass so he just stuck his head under the faucet and drank straight from it. When Isaac straightened up he caught his reflection in the mirror. His lips were bright red, and his cheeks were flushed. His curly hair was a mess from Stiles constantly running his hands through it as they kissed. Despite his haphazard appearance Isaac grinned at his reflection.

He was happy, ecstatic, even! He had gotten the nerve to kiss Stiles Stilinski, and it was going to be different this time. No one was going to leave tomorrow morning, there wouldn’t be any awkwardness and there wasn’t going to be a fight. He walked back into the room where Stiles had turned off the overhead light, but had kept the bedside lamp on. Stiles was nearly asleep, curled up under the covers, his jeans lying beside the bed. “Hope you don’t mind that I kind of stripped down to my boxers. I can’t stand sleeping in clothes,” he half-whispered.

“I don’t mind,” Isaac replied. He also took off his jeans and left himself in only his boxers then climbed into the bed next to Stiles.

The moment he had settled in, Stiles scooted over and slung and arm over Isaac’s torso, laid half of his body onto Isaac’s chest, and buried his head into Isaac’s neck. “Goodnight, Isaac,” he murmured, placing a chaste kiss on Isaac’s neck.

“Goodnight, Stiles” Isaac replied, with a sigh.

The two boys fell fast asleep, wrapped around each other.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why hello again! Sorry I've been MIA for a while, school and all that! I hoped you like this update! I really enjoyed writing it! :D  
> If you liked a quote, had a strong emotion, or just giggled incessantly, Let me know in the comments! It motivates me to write more often! Thanks so much for reading! :)


	24. Chapter 24

Isaac woke up to someone groaning loudly in his ear. He cracked his eye open to see Stiles stirring in bed, his head burying deeper into the pillow as he continued to groan.

“You okay, buddy?” Isaac asked, his voice still rough with sleep.

“I don’t want to be awake,” Stiles whined.

“I’m sorry, but it’s like past noon. It might be time to get up,” Isaac told him.

Stiles peaked his head out from under the covers to scowl at Isaac. Isaac just flashed a grin at him and Stiles’ scowl became a smile. Isaac turned to lie on his side, facing Stiles.

“How’s your nose?” Isaac asked him, quietly.

“It’s toned down to a dull thudding pain,” Stiles replied, smiling at him.

The two of them laid there, staring at each other in silence for a little until Isaac broke it with a: “Soooo…”

“Soooo, what?”

“We kissed last night,” Isaac stated.

“You are correct. We did kiss last night,” Stiles affirmed.

“Did you like it?” Isaac asked, hesitantly.

“Depends, did you like it?” Stiles asked.

“Well since I was the one who initiated the kiss, it’s pretty clear that I liked it,” Isaac scoffed. “Now answer my question, you ass.”

“Yes, I loved it,” Stiles answered, grinning at him.

“Good, because we should do it again!” Isaac said, scooting closer to Stiles.

“I’m down,” Stiles replied. He moved the last couple of inches to close the space between him and Isaac and pressed his lips against Isaac’s who instantly responded.

Isaac wasted no time in moving on top of Stiles and threading his hands through Stiles’ hair.

“So now that you’re into kissing me, is this how it’s going to be every time?” Stiles asked, between kisses.

“Not if you keep up with the sass,” Isaac muttered, sitting up on his elbows. “It’s like you literally can’t go for a minute without making a sarcastic comment, even if that minute is full of kissing me,” he continued, smirking down at Stiles.

“Well you can’t go a minute without picking a fight with me, so really it works out,” Stiles said, playing with the hair at the back of Isaac’s neck.

“I wouldn’t need to pick fights if you would just shut the fuck up,” Isaac retorted.

“Oh my gosh, shut up and keep kissing me,” Stiles demanded. He lifted himself up a few inches to reattach his lips to Isaac’s, then decided to flip them so Isaac was now under him.

Stiles’ hand was making its way down Isaac’s chest and stomach when someone pounded loudly on the door.

“Jesus Christ,” Isaac jolted, accidentally banging foreheads with Stiles.

“Who is it?” Stiles called, wincing and rubbing his forehead where Isaac hit him.

“It’s Lydia, get up, you need to help with clean up!” Lydia called through the door.

“Be down in a minute,” Stiles called.

“Are we going to tell them?” Isaac asked quietly, when he heard Lydia walk away.

“It’s your call,” Stiles told him, rolling off of him and sitting up in bed.

Isaac sat up as well, thinking for a moment, “not today,” he decided. “If they find out, they find out, whatever. But for now let’s just go help them clean up, then deal with that later.”

“Okay, I like that decision,” Stiles agreed. “Can I get one kiss for the road, though?”

Isaac pretended to think about it for a moment, “Okay,” he said grinning.

They exchanged a couple more kisses.

“Okay, let’s put pants on and go help them clean up the mess,” Isaac said, hopping off the bed, grabbing his jeans and t shirt, both now wrinkled off the floor and putting them back on.

Stiles let out a long suffering sigh, and followed suit.

“I’ll go out first,” Stiles said, after pulling on his plaid.

“Okay, I’ll go out in a couple minutes and tell them I fell asleep on a floor somewhere,” Isaac replied.

Stiles leaned against the bedroom door and pouted at Isaac, then he let out another long suffering sigh and exited the room.

Isaac sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled out his phone to watch the clock. When he unlocked the screen he saw that he had a missed call from Derek. He then realized that he had forgotten to let Derek know that he was going to sleep here, the previous night.

He unlocked his phone and dialed Derek’s number. Derek picked up on the second ring.

“Isaac! Where are you?” Derek said, sounding alarmed.

“I’m at Lydia’s,” Isaac answered. “I slept here last night. Sorry I didn’t let you know before.”

“Damn right you should have! I woke up this morning to your bedroom empty and no call or text from you. I had no idea what had become of you! For all I know you could have been in a car crash!”

“I know, I know, sorry,” Isaac muttered massaging his forehead as he listened to Derek. “Things just got a little… crazy, and I had to patch up a friend who was in a fight and then I fell asleep, and it completely slipped my mind.”

Derek let out a long sigh, “What time are you going to be home?” He asked.

“I don’t know, mid afternoon maybe? Lydia wants us to help her clean the place up.”

“Alright, well keep me updated on what’s going on,” Derek told him.

“I will,” Isaac replied “And sorry again, Derek.”

“It’s okay, Isaac. I just worry, you’re my responsibility, I can’t have you going off the radar like that.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Isaac said, smiling slightly. His phone pinged and he brought it away from his ear to see a text from Stiles asking where he was. “I have to go now, I’ll see you later tonight though.”

“See you later, Isaac,” Derek said.

Isaac hung up, and sent a quick text to Stiles that he was on his way down. He took one last look around the room to double check if either of them left something, straightened the bed sheets, and turned off the lights before going downstairs.

“Hey Isaac, I didn’t know you were still here!” Allison said, when she saw Isaac coming down the stairs. Allison and Lydia were picking up trash that littered the living room and foyer.

“Yeah, I passed out in some office upstairs at about 1,” Isaac replied, the lie rolling off his tongue.

“Well since you’re here, why don’t you go help Erica clean up the kitchen,” Lydia commanded.

“Will do,” Isaac replied, mock saluting her. He walked into the kitchen where empty alcohol bottles were strewn all over the counters. 

Erica was at the sink scrubbing out, what looked like a giant punch bowl.

Isaac snuck up behind her, and poked her in the sides. She shrieked and then slapped him on the arm with her soapy hand, “You are the actual worst Isaac Lahey.”

“Lies, I am the best fucking thing in your life!” He replied, giving her a shit eating grin.

“Wipe that look off of your face and help me get rid of all this,” she said, gesturing to all of the garbage strewn everywhere.

“Will do,” Isaac replied. He grabbed a trash bag from under the sink the set to work on throwing away all of the cups, napkins and food that was lying around. He handed all bottles over to Erica so she could rinse them out and recycle them.

 

By 2, the house was spotless. There were two huge trash bags full of cups, streamers, and food, and a paper bag full of empty alcohol bottles sitting by the back door.

They had ordered pizza for lunch and were all standing around the kitchen eating their pizza off of paper plates. 

“Thanks for helping with clean up,” Lydia said, after she swallowed a bite of pizza.

“Of course,” Isaac replied.

“Anything for you,” Stiles said, throwing a cheeky grin towards Lydia’s way. “I see that Jackson wasn’t here to help.”

“Well that’s because Jackson was escorted out of my house after he punched you in the nose,” Lydia told him.

“What were you guys even fighting over?” Scott asked.

“Me,” Isaac said. “Jackson was giving me shit, so Stiles, the gallant knight that he is, decided to step in and defend my honor.”

“How noble of you, Stiles,” Allison said, giving him an impressed look.

“I do my best. Sadly it wasn’t that impressive since Jackson hit me in the face and Isaac had to patch me up,” Stiles said.

“You didn’t seem to make a reappearance once you went upstairs. Where did you two end up going?” Erica asked. Her voice sounded innocent, but there was a glint in her eye that Isaac knew all too well.

“Uhh, well after I took care of Stiles’ face, he just decided to go sleep,” Isaac said.

“And what about you?” Erica questioned, Isaac could tell that it was subtle accusation.

“I wasn’t really feeling the party anymore so I found a place to sleep.” Isaac felt hot under his collar, Erica knew something. He wasn’t sure how she knew, but she knew.

She stared at him intently for another few moments, he stared right back, after a moment she smirked at him and went back to munching on her slice of pizza.

Isaac glanced at Stiles from across the room, where he too had noticed the exchange. Stiles then turned back to his pizza, scarfed it down and said “Well, I think I might go now, since everything is cleaned up!” He shoved the plate into one of the bulging trashed bags.

“Mind if I get a ride with you?” Isaac asked suddenly. “Derek asked me to be home soon.”

“If y’all are leaving can you take the trash bags with you?” Lydia asked.

“Sure,” Isaac replied.

“I think it might be time to go as well, Scott?” Allison said.

“Yeah sure,” Scott answered. Isaac noticed that he was staring at Stiles with a mystified look, and Stiles was adamantly ignoring it.

“I guess that’ll be my cue as well,” Erica sighed. “Thanks so much for the party, Lydia. It was great!”

“Any time,” Lydia smiled at her. Erica and Lydia exchanged a hug then Erica left, keys in hand and jacket over her shoulder.

“I’ll grab the recyclables,” Allison offered. “You ready to go?” She asked Scott.

“Yeah, let’s head out,” he had stopped staring at Stiles, but his mystified expression was still there. “Let’s make sure to hang out once more before school starts back up.”

“Yeah, for sure,” Lydia said. 

Allison grabbed the paper bag, while Stiles and Isaac grabbed the two trash bags, then all 4 migrated from the kitchen to the front door. Lydia following, and waving them off as they all walked to their cars.

“I think Erica knows,” Isaac stated, the moment him and Stiles got into the Jeep and closed off.

“Yeah, from the looks of it so does Scott. Did you see how he was staring at me?” Stiles replied.

“I guess we’re not as subtle as we like to think we are,” Isaac chuckled.

“I guess not,” Stiles said, laughing as well.

When Stiles pulled into the loft parking lot. Isaac just sat there for a moment, unsure of what to do. He stared at Stiles then said “Well goodbye, I guess.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, and just pulled Isaac into a kiss. “Goodbye,” he said after they pulled apart.

“Text me?” Isaac asked, his hand on the door handle.

“Don’t I always,” Stiles replied, grinning.

Isaac just rolled his eyes then jumped out of the car. He jogged up the steps to the front door and waved at Stiles as he drove out of the parking lot. 

Isaac was grinning all the way inside the building, up the elevator and down the hallway to the loft.

And if he skipped a little the last couple feet to the front door, well… No one but him and the security cameras had to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, friends! I kind of hit a slump in writing this chapter after I saw Star Wars because I fell down the Stormpilot trash chute and all I could think about was that. But I finally got this out!  
> We're kind of hitting a turning point in this story! There will be at most 10 more chapters, but not entirely sure. I prefer to overestimate rather than underestimate. Point is, we have definitely hit the last quarter of this story!  
> As per usual please send some through kudos and comments! I love hearing your reactions to this!  
> If you wanna follow me on tumblr my url is poppunktrashdotorg.tumblr.com. These days it's dominated by Hamilton and Star Wars if you like that sort of thing. :)


	25. Chapter 25

It was the weekend before school began again and Isaac and Stiles were spending it holed up in Isaac’s bedroom. They wren’t doing much, just enjoying each other’s presence. Isaac was leaning against his headboard reading a book that Stiles had given him, and Stiles was playing on his phone with his head in Isaac’s lap, the rest of his body stretched out on the bed.

“So does your dad know you’re here?” Isaac asked Stiles, not looking away from the book.

“Nope,” Stiles replied, continuing to tap away at his phone. “He thinks Scott and I are at the school practicing lacrosse.”

“What if he goes looking for you?” Isaac said, looking down at Stiles in concern.

“He won’t.” Stiles replied.

“How do you know that?”

“Because he probably thinks that Scott and I are doing something illegal and he doesn’t want to have to find us and do something about it,” Stiles explained.

“Isn’t that his job?” Isaac said.

“Not when it comes to Scott and I. He knows that we know that if we did something really bad and got caught he would have no reservations about sticking us in jail for the night, so he’s not going to try looking for us. Basically he trusts us to not get caught. Which means that we are safe and sound!” Stiles looked away from his phone to grin at Isaac.

“It’s funny how your dad would prefer you doing something illegal rather than hanging out with me in a house alone,” Isaac remarked.

“Backwards thinking, I know. But I think it’s more for his benefit than ours. He doesn’t give a fuck what we do as long as it’s not on his couch.”

Isaac and Stiles hadn’t said anything to anyone about their new relationship status quite yet. Isaac was a firm believer in ‘not telling unless absolutely necessary’ and Stiles was okay with that for the moment. However their secret wasn’t hidden from the sheriff for long when he came home from a shift early to find Stiles and Isaac half naked, kissing passionately on the couch.

Isaac had begged the sheriff not to tell Derek because he wanted to tell him, himself and the Sheriff agreed as long as the two of them weren’t alone in his house again.

Isaac, too afraid to test the sheriff’s conditions, had abided by that law, no matter how much Stiles begged him to break the rule. However, just because the sheriff had those rules, didn’t mean that Derek did (yet) and the two of them took full advantage of it.

Isaac didn’t want to tell Stiles this but there was a small thrill every time they were in the loft alone, and were able to make out on every single surface (minus Derek’s bed) with the risk of Derek coming home.

“Hey Isaac?” Stiles said, several minutes later.

“Hmm,”

“Do you want to go on a date?” Stiles asked, sounding as nonchalant as possible.

Isaac took his eyes off the book to look at Stiles. “Like, a real date? Like go out for dinner in public?”

“Yeah,” Stiles replied a little more confidently. “Like a real date, where I pay because I asked you, and give you my coat when you get cold and we kiss on your doorstep at the end of the night.”

Isaac sighed “I don’t know…”

Stiles sat up and kneeled in front of Isaac. “Come on Isaac, we’re practically in a relationship! We should be going on dates!”

“I thought we were in a relationship?” Isaac asked, a little confused.

“We are! Which is why we should go on at least one proper date.”

Isaac sighed again and looked at his bedspread instead of answering Stiles, tracing the pattern with his eyes.

“I understand that you want to take things slow, and that you’re nervous about finding about because of your dad and everything and I respect that,” Stiles began “But I also really want to take you out on a date and kiss you out in public at the end of the night and show you off because you’re the hottest person I’ve ever seen and everyone should know that Stiles Stilinski can land the hottest person in Beacon Hills.”

Isaac didn’t look up. He continued to trace the pattern, now with this fingers.

“We don’t have to stay in town either, we can go to the neighboring town and go to a place so no one recognizes us if that makes you feel more comfortable.” Stiles took Isaac’s hand away from its tracing and laced their fingers together. “Please? For me?”

Isaac looked up at Stiles finally. He was smiling at Isaac encouragingly and his eyes were practically begging Isaac to answer yes.

“Do you promise that it won’t be in Beacon Hills?” Isaac asked.

“Yes! If that’s a condition you have to going on a date with me, then yes, completely! We will go out of state if that makes you feel more comfortable!” Stiles said.

Isaac smiled a little at Stiles’ enthusiasm and sincerity then said: “okay, let’s go on a date then. A date where you have to give me your jacket and I won’t pay a cent.”

“Deal!” Stiles said grinning like an idiot.

Stiles’ excitement was infectious and Isaac couldn’t help but grin back at him. He leaned forward and captured Stiles’ lips in a kiss who immediately responded, wrapping his arms around Isaac’s neck and almost immediately climbing on top of Isaac to straddle his hips. Isaac didn’t mind in the slightest, however. He had gotten used to Stiles’ habit of climbing on top of him almost anytime they began kissing. It was Stiles’ “thing” just like it was Isaac’s thing start overthinking everything the moment any kissing began. 

“Wait, wait wait,” Isaac said breaking the kiss “Are we gonna tell our friends about the date?” he asked.

“Do you not want them to know?” Stiles asked.

“It’s just that I don’t know how to bring the topic of “us” up to everyone. I mean, I’m pretty sure Erica knows already. But actually talking about the topic feels impossible.” Isaac explained.

“How about this, if it comes up, it comes up and we tell them. If not then don’t worry about it. It’s bound to come up eventually. Nothing gets passed Lydia or Erica. With those two around we’ll be figured out in no time,” Stiles said.

“Okay, I like that idea,” said Isaac, nodding.

“Good, can I go back to kissing you now?” Stiles asked, leaning in.

“Wait, one more question,” Isaac said.

Stiles sighed, and looked like he was resisting the urge to groan in frustration “yes?”

“When is this date?”

“You free next Friday?” Stiles asked.  
“Next Friday works,” Isaac answered.

“Great! Now please let me continue kissing you!”

“If you insist,” Isaac replied, jokingly.

Instead of responding to Isaac’s usual sass. Stiles just began kissing him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, this is a little shorter than usual, but everything happened that I wanted to happen in this chapter. I am currently planning out the rest of the story and it's coming together beautifully!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did please send some kudos my way, or a comment if there was something you particularly enjoyed! Thanks so much for reading and I will see you all soon!
> 
> If you want to follow me on tumblr you can find me at hamil-wars.tumblr.com  
> -Meredith


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